More than a decade ago, I created a checklist on this blog listing all the Perry Mason novels. I planned to write notes on each novel, talking about recurring characters, recurring or unusual plot devices, and mention of any interesting legal points. This project was abandoned for a number of years, but I finally decided … Continue reading "Reviving the Perry Mason project"

In this week's Pagan community Notes, Kwanzaa begins, Benin bronzes in Germany returned to Nigeria, a tarot card reader is sued by a professor for allegations of involvement in Idaho murders, and more news and announcements. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of December 26, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

On December 23rd, a severe rain and wind storm passed through Maine, after also creating havoc with storms and snow in other states. In the early afternoon, I was sitting in the living room, and suddenly heard some sort of clattering outside. I had previously gone out in the rain to right overturned trash barrels, […]

  It is important to make certain the table saw fence is in alignment with the miter gauge slots. If the fence is out of alignment it can cause burning on some woods like cherry, or cause a rougher cut. In my new book, Designing Boxes, careful alignment of the fence will be the first step in making a table saw sled for box making. Make, fix and create... assist others in learning lifewise.

        In many Eastern Orthodox circles today, the 26th of December, is the feast of James the Just. Me, I usually mark it out as a particularly special day. Although first I should note how his celebration actually is a movable feast. Catholics usually mark his life and ministry on the 3rd […]

Kwanzaa is a modern holiday celebrated by many African-Americans. It was created to celebrate African heritage, African-American history, and seven communal principles important to the liberation of African-American people. It is a way to honor history and build for a better future. How do you honor your peoples’ history? What are the principles you embrace … Continue reading Building History

While I’ve come to accept that sometimes the Pagan community just doesn’t care about something as much as I do, there are times when I find myself screaming “this is important! Why are you not reading this?!”

                                                                      Good King Wenceslas performed by Loreena McKennitt. Today is the second day of the 12 Days of Christmas, a day with multiple personalities as we will see.  We will celebrate with a  an English carol about a Bohemian princeling/saint. The Brits and the residentsof other former pink blotches on Queen Victoria ’s globe like many Americans usually spend today, Boxing Day, storming the malls and shops on what is usually the busiest retail sales day of the year. Disgruntled gift recipients hit the refund and exchange desks and others spent the gift cards and even old fashion cash.   But unlike most Yanks they do it on an offici...

To the passerby and the full participant alike, both Hanukkah and Christmas show up as happy holidays.  We not only say that to each other–happy holidays–but I think it’s safe to say that we think of them as happy celebrations. … Continue reading →

Sometimes Santa comes on a dinosaur. Why not? We are never really sure what might be lying behind the next bend. One of our son’s surprised us with the inflatable. It was weird enough to be really fun. Ya gotta have fun, at least sometimes. I had fun this week and enjoyed the holiday and […]

We take a look back at some of our articles on Chrismas and holidays traditions. Continue reading Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! at The Wild Hunt.

          THE FOURTH CHRISTMAS SERMONA Zen Vision of a Christianity that Is and Might Be James Ishmael Ford Christmas Day. Today is Christmas Day. I rummaged through records of my quarter century of parish ministry and since, what now, seven full, and pushing on eight years preaching around and doing some […]

                                                                                Go Tell it on the Mountain --vintage recording by the Fisk University Jubilee Singers. Of all the announcement carols Go Tell It On the Mountain is unusual for a number of reasons.  It is not European but rooted in the American Black Community and dated to the era when the end of slavery was being celebrated.  It is not an announcement by the Heavenly Hosts, but an instruction to a whole people to spread the good word.  And because of its connections to the Civil Rights Movement, it doubles as a Christmas Carol and a liberation anthem. Watch Night when African-Americans gathered on New Year's Eve to greet the...

Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ today on Christmas. It is the birth of the promise that something new is possible in the world. It is the birth of hope for justice and liberation. What are you hoping will be born into the world today?

                                             Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. Our first Christmas Day carol is my own personal favorite.  I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is unusual in that there is no reference to the Christ child,manger, Holy Family, shepherds, Magi, or even the Herald Angels.  Instead, it focuses on the message of those angels amid the ghastly carnage of war.  It was written not by famed Unitarian hymnist Samuel Longfellow,but by his brother Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, then America’s most honored and adored poet who had created national epics like The Courtship of Miles Standish , The Song of Hiawatha , and Evangeline as well as the school recital...

The church will be closed this Sunday so minister and staff can enjoy the holiday with their families.

as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, December 24, 2022 Joy to the world! Can you feel it? Bright lights against the unanticipated cold. Festive songs, flickering candles, cider, cookies, stories of miracles and poems that attend to “[t]he starry form of love”… Christmas and the winter holidays are here. Joy to […]

December 24, 2022 @ 6:30 pm Come join us for our traditional service of lessons and carols for Christmas.

Come join us for our traditional service of lessons and carols for Christmas.

"This will be my last regular column for The Wild Hunt." Our weekend editor, Eric O. Scott, reflects on parenthood, life in St. Louis, and a decade of writing on these pages. Continue reading No Place to Raise Children at The Wild Hunt.

Hello, dear ones~ There is a moment, brief, and most often unnoticed, that is the pause between each inhalation and exhalation. Our bodies do this on our behalf. If we pay attention, and if we choose to, we can make the pause even longer. This week, ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – December 20th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Schenectady County (and much of the state) is back up in medium again (and much of downstate is in high). Please be careful as you gather with loved ones over the holidays, especially if travel is involved. It can be hard to stay vigilant for ... read more . The post COVID 19 Update – December 20th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

In the early months of 2023, the BIPOC Book Group will discuss the following: January 2023: The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia February 2023: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Huston March 2023: We Are Not Like them by Christine Pride & Jo Piazza April 2023: ... read more . The post Upcoming reads for the Books by BIPOC Authors Discussion Group appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

We just wanted to wish you and your family a joyous season, whatever holidays you celebrate at this time of year. We celebrate many of them! We are honored to be the ministers of this congregation. It has been a tough few years to carry forward ... read more . The post Holiday Message from the Co-ministers appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Please join us on Christmas Eve (Saturday, 24 December 2022) at 6:30 PM for our annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship Service. This is a candlelight service including a reading of the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke, lighting candles in the darkness, silence, meditation, and carols. All ages are welcome. Please bring the kids … Continue reading "Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship Service Tonight (24 December 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (25 December 2022) at 11:00 AM for our Christmas morning service — “A Place for Peace” with our minister Rev. Barbara Jarrell and  our religious education director Susan Caldwell. This will be a low-key service of songs, readings, and meditation.  All ages are welcome. We will be meeting in the … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (25 December 2022)"

There are no children’s religious education classes on Christmas Day 2022 and New Years Day 2023. And there are no middle school / high school religious education classes on Christmas Day 2022 and New Years Day 2023. Our children and youth will be welcome to stay in the worship service for intergenerational worship services on … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Classes on Break — Christmas Day 2022 and New Years Day 2023"

  Andrea Bocelli performs Adeste Fideles  with a choir in a TV special.  He included it in his popular Christmas album My Christmas . Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful ) is one of the most exuberant of announcement carols and is a perennial favorite for both choir performance and congregational singing at Christmas Eve services .   It is based on two Old Testament verses said to foretellthe coming of the Messiah— Psalm 98, 96:11-12 and Genesis 3:17-18 but like other popular carols it is sung as if it is an announcement of the birth of Christ by angels on high. Mystery surrounds the creation of Adeste Fideles in Latin for use in the Catholic mass .   Proposed authors include St. Bonaventure—highly unlikely—the English Cath...

Our 9:00 AM Sunday adult religious education class will be taking a break this Sunday (25 December 2022) and next Sunday (1 January 2023). After our two-week break, please join us on Sunday, 8 January 2023, at AM via Zoom (link to be provided is future website post). We will be discussing the next two … Continue reading "Adult Religious Education Class on Break — Christmas Day 2022 and New Years Day 2023"

Please join us next Tuesday (27 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.

Please join us on Saturday (24 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 (24 December 2022)"

On this Christmas Eve, I think back to the story of the birth of Jesus and realize that on this day many years ago, Mary must have been in labor, her body preparing for childbirth. Her pituitary was signaling to her body that it was time by producing oxytocin, and her uterine muscles responded contracting … Continue reading Labor

A depiction of St. Francis of Assisi laying the babe in the manger for his living nativity scene in 1223. Note —We interrupt our Christmas Eve announcement carols for this chestnut from the Old Poet. On Christmas Eve it’s time to reflect on a treasured part of the Christian celebration of the Nativity .   And a certain obscure poet finds modern meaning in its symbolism. In 1223 St. Francis of Assisi is said to have made the first recreation of the birth scene of the baby Jesus in a cave near Greccio in Italy .   He was inspired by a recent trip to the Holy Land .   It was a living Nativity tableau, with people representing the Holy Family , shepherds, Magi , and angels and live animals, including an ass and an oxfor realism.   Th...

                                                         It Came Upon a Midnight Clear  sung by Ella Fitzgerald. Note —It’s an announcement carol two-fer Christmas Eve plus a bonus annual Murfin verse! In churches around the world this evening announcement carols will be central to the services.   Many are bold and glorious whether sung by massed choirs or by congregations that know them by heart.  Adeste Fideles ( O Come All Ye Faithful ) and the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah are two of the grander examples, although there are plenty of others in Christmas song books.   But my personal favorite is much more modest. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear is one of the oldest and most beloved ...

Nativity Scene by Eiichi Kotozuka (1906-1979)   A Christmas Day meditation offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindul Mediation (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece) —o0o— Shin’ichirō Imaoka (1881-1988) was a living legend in Japan who influenced the development of progressive and liberal religion in that country and who was one of the key figures in the founding of the “yunitarian” [sic] movement there. He was also a key figure in the inter-faith organisation called the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) and, in a recent biography about him by George M. Williams, he has been described as being “a Bodhisattva-Kami-Christian-Unitarian...

Scott wells no longer does much with his blog, but he’s active on Mastodon. And one of his Mastodon posts pointed me to InCoWriMo, or International Correspondence Writing Month. The month is February. The idea is to write letters to random people all over the world. The tagline is “Vintage Social Media.” How it works: … Continue reading "InCoWriMo"

Everything felt and seemed peaceful and quiet until my monkey-minded self interrupted my focus to wonder what on earth that raven was doing sitting so quietly for so long. Perhaps he wanted to see if I was still as funny as I believed. Who knows the mind of a raven? Continue reading Column: Be Easy When You Can at The Wild Hunt.

Join us for our annual spiral walk as we welcome in the return of the light.

Can you feel the “Wheel of the Year” turning? During this season when each day here in the Northern Hemisphere becomes incrementally shorter, can you feel the inexorable pull toward Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year? The Sixth Source of the Unitarian Universalist living tradition is “Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate […]

Some of us have familiesWho are our people,Bound by blood and name –Many branches, one tree.Some of us have peopleWho are our families,Chosen and cherished,Many flowers, one garden.You are my people.And I love you dearly.That is all that matters.

I’m slowly making my way through Lewis Gordon’s new book, Fear of Black Consciousness. It’s slow going, because Gordon keeps dropping in this little observations that make me stop and think. Like this one: “The expression ‘black bodies’ pops up often wherever antiblack racism raises its ugly, and at times polite, head. It is there … Continue reading "Noted, with comment"

I love seeing the things that other human beings around me are able to do. This thrill and awe at human giftedness is especially strong when I know the people involved, but it can still happen when I am out … Continue reading →

Grief has taught me the centrality of rest by demanding it of me. When my grief is heavy and painful, I have no option but to rest my body and to be with it as fully as possible. Surrendering to that need has offered me so much; there is real fullness and vitality possible alongside … Continue reading Grief and Rest

The 1953 Columbia re-recording was featured on this LP ad is the one most commonly heard on Christmas radio. American kids have their own category of secular Christmas songs , most centering on or around that Jolly Old Elf a/k/a Santa Clause , St . Nick , Kris Kringle , etc. You have to forgive the greedy little buggers for not focusing on the birth of a baby and the whole savior and Messiah thing .  A fat guy with a bag full of toys and flying reindeer trump all the Holy stuff .  The songs include ditties like Jolly Old St. Nicholas , Santa Claus is Coming to Town , and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer .  And the most successful singer of such songs was cowboy crooner Gene Autry who became the children’s Bing Crosby in the post-World...

Yesterday I signed a contract with Taunton Press for my next book, my15th. I also spent a bit of time in the shop working on boxes. I've begun reading parts of the Jan. 6th committee report on the insurrection. Every page is a barn burner, and I'm left wondering whether or how Republican members of congress will be held accountable for their efforts to subvert the  accurately measured will of the American people.  The gears of justice grind slowly for the rich, the powerful and famous. Not so slow for the rest. It is bitter cold this holiday season. I hope all my readers are safe and warm. We have two making days left before Christmas, or three to finish hand crafted gifts before the last day of Hanukah 2022. The boxes shown are tiny m...

                                                               (There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays-- The Carpenters. We’ll celebrate what may or may not be the busiest travel day of the holiday season given the storms and record breaking cold lashing much of the U.S. this year with a classic American popular Christmas song by Robert Allen with lyricsby Al Stillman written in 1954. Perry Como had a huge hit with ( There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays which has become an oft recorded classic.  But no one sang it better than Karen Carpenter. An Old Fashion Christmas  including  Home for the Holidays  was released after Karen Carpenter's death. This song is best classified under...

Prayer for Week of December 26, 2022 - Prayer for Playfulness Gracious Playfulness invite us into relaxation and the creative life, where we imagine possibilities and problem solve, try on ways of being and try out new dances, get silly and lift one another up with generous joy. May we...

Greetings all: I know the best way to find people in the Fediverse, using the microblogging software Mastodon, is by using hashtags. And I have found a few people with #Universalist and #Universalism. Plus some joking with #UltraUniversalism and #WinchesterProfession. But if you use Mastodon and we’ve not connected, find me at @Wells@mastodon.social. It’s so … Continue reading "Universalists using Mastodon?"

        My friend Sensei Robert Ertman sent me this obituary of the Christian Zen teacher, Sensei Barbara Shoshin Craig. It felt important to share this to a larger readership. The rise of the Zen Christian community is one of the most interesting of the many interesting things that have arisen in the […]

Professor and physicist Enrique Alberto Gómez reflects on the Mayan calendar and the assertion that the West is interested in the products of Indigenous thought, but not in the Indigenous thought process that produced it. Continue reading What have we learned a decade after the Maya “end-date” of 2012? at The Wild Hunt.

                                                                      Dar Williams performs her song The Christians and the Pagans live. Back in 2012 my wife Kathy and I splurged on a then rare night out to take in a concert teaming Loudin Wainwright III and feminist/lesbian folkie Dar Williams .  Wainwright was the draw for us.  I was only dimly aware of Williams and don’t think I had ever heard one of her songs.  She ended up blowing us away .  And one of her most memorable songs was The Christians and The Pagans .  Like many of her compositions it was autobiographical about she and her lesbian lover unexpectedly spending a Christmas dinner with disapproving Christian relatives.  The st...

It’s possible to stop. To take a break. You don’t have to earn it. You don’t have to feel guilty about it. No matter how important tasks seem in the moment, know that your ability to pause and remember your breath will always be a place to ground you. To remind you that our breaths … Continue reading You Don’t Have To Earn It

There is a chapter in the Winnie the Pooh book entitled, “Eeyore Loses a Tail, and Pooh Finds One” (The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh, pg. 42). Pooh and Eeyore are having a morning chat when Pooh notices Eeyore … Continue reading →

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas  by Judy Garland in  Meet Me in St. Louis. We are closing in on the big day and it’s way past time to honor the greatest performance of a modern secular Christmas song ever.   Period. No arguments.   The crown goes to Judy Garland singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas to Margaret O ’ Brien in the 1944 film classic Meet Me in St. Louis. In some ways the part of the second daughter Esther of the comfortably middle class St . Louis Smith family was a step back for Garland to the juvenile parts where she had gained fame.   She had finally broken through being cast as a young woman in Presenting Lilly Mars .   But she was back to playing a love struck high school girl. On the other han...

Join us for our annual spiral walk as we welcome in the return of the light.

Solstice Blessings! Continue reading Blessed December solstice from The Wild Hunt at The Wild Hunt.

Joanna Fontaine Crawford If love is a law, how may I follow it with more faithfulness? Continue reading "O Holy Night"

In the Northern Hemisphere, we rest in sacred, healing darkness on the longest night of the year today. In the Southern Hemisphere, we celebrate in vibrant, warming light. How can you honor both darkness and light today?

We had a great tiny box making class this last weekend at ESSA with each student making several small boxes available for Christmas giving. Each tiny box is evidence of learning. Among the boxes we made are bandsaw boxes, bentwood boxes, mitered boxes, and super tiny boxes in which the interior space is hollowed out by the saw. We have only four making days before Christmas. My  tiny boxes book is available as a Kindle edition just in case you are running out of time. https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Boxes-skill-building-box-projects/dp/1631864475/ Make,  fix and create... Assist others in learning lifewise.

Even if you are doing your drawings on the computer, your hands will be engaged. This short video on the importance of drawing should be viewed by every educator, even those involved in history, social studies and literature.  All drawing, as it involves visual and spatial skills, provides enhancement for science and math. https://www.edutopia.org/video/sketchnotes-concept-map-comprehension Please share. Make, fix and create... We've only 4 making days left before Christmas. Don't know what to make? LeeValley.com has several of my books to choose from. Select $40 worth to get free shipping.

A Christian hymn written in 1934 begins with these words.  The writer wonders, as he wanders underneath an open sky how it is that Jesus the Savior came to die.  The hymn continues for four verses repeating a theme that … Continue reading →

When someone – or Someone – is gracious to us, the appropriate response is gratitude. And so I want to give thanks to the Gods whose presence and blessings have meant so much to me this year.

First, a Reflection from Rev. Sean Neil Barron “Rebellions Are Built on Hope” Gretchen said she was preaching on Rebellion, our conversation was something like this: “The simple gift this week is rebellion.”  “So, you are preaching about Star Wars.” … Continue reading →

      “The autumn breeze of a single night of love is better than a hundred thousand years of sitting meditation.” Ikkyu (translated by John Stevens) Ikkyu Sojun is one of my favorite figures in the history of Zen. He died on this day, the 21st of November, in 1481. He was eighty-seven years old. […]

                                                       A Winer's Carol by Tori Amos. In the United States the exact moment of the Winter Solsticeas defined by scientists—when the Sun is shining farthest to the south directly over the Tropic of Capricorn—occurs at 3:47 pm Central Standard Time today.  You can figure out its arrival in your neck of the woods. The fact is that last night was the longest night of the year and today the sky will begin to grow lightearlier each day. This Winter Solstice mandala incorporates traditional pagan symbols--the Druidic Oak as the Tree of Life festooned with ever green holly and features the glow of a full moon between its branches. In most so-called pagan tradi...

I will be co-officiating the Christmas morning service at Universalist National Memorial Church this year. It will be a smaller and simpler than usual Sunday service. For example, a responsive reading replaces an anthem, the announcements are up front and there’s no offering.  A litany adds more voices. The sermon, as yet unwritten, will be … Continue reading "Christmas Service at Universalist National Memorial Church"

Taken with a Fuji X100V, straight out of camera using Marcel Fraijs’s “Acros Dark” recipe. Just click on the photo to enlarge it. On Tuesday morning I went on a very slow wander around Cambridge and, as I passed the front of Trinity College, I saw one of the gardeners lovingly tending Newton’s apple tree, the “Flower of Kent” tree originally grafted from that which grows at Newton’s childhood home of Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire. The light was lovely as was the care of the gardener . . .

TWH welcomes back Erick Dupree, who reflects on the meaning of the solstice with a group of Pagan creators including Travis Holp, Juliet Diaz, Fio Gede Parma, Claire Goodchild, and Rev. Dominick Guerriero. Continue reading Pagan Voices: Welcoming the Solstice at The Wild Hunt.

Making Room at the Inn This time of year we are surrounded by stories of hope, miracles, and family; stories that bring meaning to the season for people of many different cultural and religious backgrounds. The Christmas story has become pervasive in mainstream American culture and it also subtly carries messages that are beautifully subversive. […]

“I wish you rest today. I wish you a deep knowing that exhaustion is not a normal way of living. You are enough. You can rest. You must resist anything that doesn’t center your divinity as a human being. You are worthy of care.” -Tricia Hersey, from the introduction to Rest Is Resitance How do … Continue reading Worthy

                                             Silver Bells (City Sidewalks)  sung by Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell, and William Frawley in  The Lemon Drop Kid . After two years of isolation due to the Corona Virus pandemic, the streets and stores are busy again.   But nothing like the bustle pictured in the motion picture debut of the holiday tune Silver Bells (City Sidewalks . )   Folks have become too used to the convenience online shopping and rapid gift delivery.   The shopping malls that largely usurpeddowntown shopping districts in the late 20th Century are still nearly ghost towns with most of their department store anchors closed.   Even the bells are rarer—here in McHenry County we are bereft of Sal...

UU singer-songwriter Peter Mayer has a song about scientists making discoveries, only to be squashed by the powers that be. Galileo proclaims the earth is round. Darwin postulates his theory of evolution. As curious minds question them, they answer, “Do … Continue reading →

I came across this photograph a few days ago, and wanted to share it with some background information, but the more I looked into it, the deeper the story got, so think of this as the first part of an open ended series. This photograph was taken on October 4, 1900 at the Universalist church … Continue reading "The Kansas Convention Church, 1900"

      John Steinbeck, American novelist, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, and one of my signal early spiritual guides died on this day,  the 20th of December in 1968. Since his death Steinbeck’s fortunes have fallen and risen, sometimes lauded, sometimes dismissed, perhaps demonstrating his complexity. Steinbeck is of course the author Grapes […]

Judge Heather A. Welch, of the Marion Superior Court, Indiana, has issued a preliminary injunction against Indiana’s new anti-abortion law, SEA 1. The state of Indiana had previously passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which strengthens protections for the freedom to practice religion. Following the passage of SEA 1, Hoosier Jews for Choice and several … Continue reading "When does personhood begin?"

‘Twas the night before Christmas at the UU in town,The chalice was lit and the church gathered ‘round.The coffee was brewed and the cookies were made,everyone waiting patiently for the next day The sanctuary sparkled with shimmer and shineAnd it didn’t quite matter if they started on time.The music was joyful and the energy lightBecause […]

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: December solstice events, Ardantane features in local publication, the After School Satan Club, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of December 18, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

It’s a dark time in the western hemisphere. Literally. There was only 9 hours and 43 minutes of sunlight on December 17. The days have become shorter and the nights longer since June. In ancient times, at this point in the season, people were terrified that the sun was dying. They didn’t understand what was happening, and they invented elaborate rituals to try to reignite the sun. Rituals of the Sun In China, the emperor would ascend the Temple of Heaven in Beijing and offer burnt sacrifices as an intermediary between heaven and earth, to keep the sun from burning […] The post Light in the Darkness appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Every movement starts with a moment. Join us as we reflect on how far on the building blocks of 2022.

Imagine two of the world’s most notorious swindlers in the middle of dry country in Kansas, singing Christian hymns accompanied by their author on an organ. Indeed, this happened. Rudolf Stallmann aka Baron von Koenig and Maurice Salis-Schwabe traveled across America as part of a group of potential railroad investors. Their plan was to use […]

                                                                                Light One Candle  by Peter Yarrow performed by Peter, Paul & Mary. For the Second night of Chanukah, let’s hear one from a largely secular and leftist Jew like so many of my friends.  Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary wrote the song in 1982 as a pacifist response to the Lebanon War which was reflected in the lyrics: Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice justice and freedom demand, Light one candle for the wisdom to know when the peacemaker’s time is at hand. It also connected the Maccabean rebellion against the Seleucid Greek Empire from 140 to 63 BCE as a war of national liberation like contemporar...

Deanna Johnson, Impact Storyteller de UUSC, conversa con Luis Enrique González, director ejecutivo de FM4 Paso Libre, coparte de UUSC.

The holiday of Chanukah celebrates a miracle in ancient times, when oil sufficient only for one night burned for eight, and allowed the re-consecration of the Temple to be completed. This ritual was vital to the survival of the religion of Judaism. What would a miracle allow modern society to accomplish?

I had a very successful 3 day class at ESSA, making tiny boxes. Six students made an average of about 8 boxes each of four different kinds. We started out making tiny tiner (Norwegian bentwood boxes of a very small size. Then we made bandsawn boxes and mitered boxes from shaped moldings cut on the router table. We finished with very tiny boxes with hinged lids.  Keeping the flow of materials and processes going kept me so busy I took no photos of the work as it progressed. I plan to take a slow, easy day to recover. The photo shows lid stock I made during the class for very tiny hinged lid boxes... waiting to be put away. Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning lifewise.

Public life in this country continues to be increasingly difficult. As a nation of people and many communities, we are divided deeply. Binary thinking in the worst way has taken us over.  This side or that side. Facts or fake. … Continue reading →

                                                                                The Anniversary Waltz  sung by Vera Lynn. We interrupt the seasonal songs of Winter Holidays Music Festival for a more private celebration if you don’t mind.  Forty one years ago, on a below zero December 19, 1981 at Chicago’s St. Francis Xavier Church on the North Side Kathy Brady-Larsen, a young widow, consented to marry beneath her.  The groom was a scruffy no-account with dim prospectsnamed Patrick Murfin. That summer we had renewed an old acquaintance at Consumer’s Tap on Lincoln Avenue.  We had a nodding acquaintance a decade earlier while I was on the staff of the Chicago Seed and she was a 17 y...

I always thought of Gil Scot-Heron as the godfather of rap. But Ted Brooks and the Jubalaires antedated him by a couple of decades. The Jubalaires formed as the Royal Harmony Singers in the late 1930s. Coming out of the Southern gospel tradition of Jubilee-style quartets, the Jubalaires went north to New York City. By … Continue reading "The first rapper"

Sunday, December 18, 3:00 – 5:00 pm, Santa Visit Our beloved Santa will visit us again this year. He would love to hear your wishes for Christmas.

As Argentina and France dueled on the soccer pitch in today's World Cup Finals, a group of Argentinean Witches have taken it upon themselves to work magic on behalf of their side. Continue reading Argentina wins the World Cup – thank the Witches at The Wild Hunt.

Throughout 2022, but in particular in the aftermath of the midterm election, I’ve been circulating thoughts in my head about the term the culture war and how I would approach it from a sociological lens. There are a couple of considerations that I want to address, in particular when the term has arisen in various … Continue reading "On “the culture war”"

A story for the Christmas season.

Hiking is like living in a metaphor. I have gone on 151 hikes so far this year. The sun has shone and the clouds have sent me coded messages. I have walked through mud and sand, scrambled over rocks, gone up steep trails and inched around drop-offs that terrified me. I have also enjoyed a […]

Almost Winter Solstice here! We got our first snow the other day, just a few inches, but enough to brighten the ground. It is good. It seems the long cold nights are infiltrating my spirit, and I feel weary. As I get older, it is harder to rejoice in the season of winter–ice has tripped […]

                                                            The Hanukkah Dance-- Lyrics by Woody Guthrie performed by Nefresh Mountain. Note —Our second holiday two-fer! It is the first night of Chanukah.  The innovative folk and roots duo Nefresh Mountain—Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg and friends—has recorded two original Chanukah songs by Woody Guthrie. They were composed in 1942 while Woody was living in Coney Island and learning Jewish culture and traditions from his mother-in-law and Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt. He was also spending a lot of time playing for neighborhood children. The songs were resurrected from Woody’s vast archives by his daughter Nora Guthrie and arranged by Lindber...