It is only 11 days until Easter Sunday, so we are well into Lent and I was reminded that there is at least a mild rashof interest in and even observance of the season of personal sacrifice and contemplation of the Holy among my fellow Unitarian Universalists.  It was not always so. As heirs of the Radical Reformation and step siblings Unitarianism and Universalism as they evolved in the United States instinctively rejectedwhat they regarded as Popish trappings, liturgy,and anything that stood betweenhumans and a direct relationshipwith God.  While both remained in the 19th Century avowedly Christian in the Protestant  tradition that meant eschewing the priesthood,Episcopal authority, the mass, saints,the liturgical calendar and holy d...

In January, we moved into a subdivision that backs up to a Salt River tributary. Our backyard overlooks the canal and, on the other side of that, is an elementary school. Some days I go in the backyard just to listen to the sounds of children at play, to hear the sounds of children being […]

In this March session, we will make a simple stir-fried Shrimps with Broccoli using an induction cooktop. Los Alamos County is phasing out natural gas usage so, that by year 2035, new buildings will no longer be built with gas lines. Email KokHeong at kokheong@comcast.net for the Zoom link and to be put on an email …<p> Cooking with KokHeong Read More »

Taken with a Fuji X100V using Øyvind Nordhagen’s OWH Film recipe Just click on a photo to enlarge it A Cambridge street scene taken in February 2023

The Gareth Knight Conference held its second annual event in Glastonbury which is centered on Knight's influential and immense body of work concerning esotericism, occult and magical studies and practice. Continue reading Second annual Gareth Knight Conference held in Glastonbury at The Wild Hunt.

In this congregation, there are people with a variety of the(*)logies and Unitarian Universalism draws from many sources including direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder, the world’s religions, Jewish and Christian teachings on God’s love, humanist teachings of reason and science, prophetic people, and ... read more . The post April Theme: Earthly Journeys appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

This is the second of the lectures in Paul Dean’s 1832 A Course of Lectures in Defence of the Final Restoration, an homage to celebrate the Universalist minister’s 240th birthday The numbers in brackets are the beginning of the page in the original. LECTURE II. OBJECTION I ROMANS XI. 5. EVEN SO THEN, AT THIS … Continue reading "Paul Dean’s Lectures: the second lecture"

It was SO wonderful to be with many of you this past Sunday, for multi-platform worship, after being away for ten weeks! We were grateful to get to share a few things that we learned and experienced while on sabbatical, and to share in a ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – March 28th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Children in Kindergarten through 6 th grade will start in the Great Hall for the first part of the service. Afterwards, they will meet in their own rooms: Wonderful Welcome (K-3 rd grade) in the classroom next to the dining room Love Connects Us (4 th -6 ... read more . The post UUSS Religious Education on Sunday April 2 appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

ZEN COMMENTS ON AN ANCIENT KOAN Baofu and Changqing Go on a Picnic Blue Cliff Record, Case 23 Ken Ireland (Reprinted with permission from Koan Conversations by my old friend Ken Ireland. Ken is someone to know. Ken began meditation practice in the early 70’s while a Jesuit. Claudio Naranjo introduced him to zazen as […]

This is the first of the lectures in Paul Dean’s 1832 A Course of Lectures in Defence of the Final Restoration, an homage to celebrate the Universalist minister’s 240th birthday The numbers in brackets are the beginning of the page in the original. LECTURE I. QUESTION STATED, AND ITS IMPORTANCE. ACTS III. 20, 21. AND … Continue reading "Paul Dean’s Lectures: the first lecture"

Advisory opinion would do a lot for nations struggling with the climate crisis.

Following on from my last post, here is another interview with Rob Reiman. Although the interview begins in Spanish, Rieman speaks throughout in English. Highly recommended, by me anyway, as are his two books: To Fight Against This Age: On Fascism and Humanism and Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal .  

(Zen) Buddhism and the Coming Revolution Gary Snyder I first shared this essay four or five years ago. For some of us I think it a timely re-read. For others maybe it can be a useful first read. It was originally published as “Buddhist Anarchism,” in the first of the four issue run of the Journal […]

Persistence often requires having goals that we’re working towards. Sometimes we start with goals that seem impossible, and have to muster all of our persistence to keep going when they’re far away. What goals have you set for yourself?

Yesterday I finally got outside and pruned one of the cherry trees in our little orchard. Pruning has always baffled me. My trees never look like the trees in the pruning guides, and though they are dwarf trees, they grow quickly long and gangly. I wish I didn’t have to prune, but experts say it […]

Today is the 240th birthday of Universalist minister Paul Dean. He is much less well remembered than his Boston colleague and contemporary Hosea Ballou, and when I recently learned that Dean (and his wife) have an unmarked grave in the same cemetery that Ballou has a grand monument with a statue. I’ve started transcribing his … Continue reading "Paul Dean at 240"

                                     Henri Fabr é on the dock beside his invention. The Wright Brothers may have been first, but for a number of reasons within the first decade of flight the French leapt ahead of the Americans and their chief rival Glenn Curtis in technical innovation and the advancementof aviation.   It was not really so surprising.   In the early decades of the 20th Century French science and engineering led the world in many areas. Perhaps one of the most important advancements in aviation was the development of a floatplane—an aircraft that could take off and land on water.   Everyone knew that such a development was crucial in making air travel practical over long distances and commercial...

We are easily and deeply influenced beings, and that’s a big if not subtle part of our vulnerability. We all know how being around other people can make us feel. Depending on the company we find ourselves with, we may … Continue reading →

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, an update on the Apache Stronghold case, Four Dances site defaced with Nazi symbols, antiquities returned and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of March 27, 2023 at The Wild Hunt.

The sermon celebrating the start of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston's 2023-2024 stewardship campaign. The post Widening Love’s Circle: Stewardship appeared first on Colin Bossen.

Susan Dana Lawrence Parenting practices to strengthen our children for better Earth stewardship.

The book about which Rob Reiman is talking in this video, To Fight Against This Age: On Fascism and Humanism , and also his first, Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal , are, I think, excellent, important and accessible books. I post this video and these links here because I think that many readers of this blog will be interested in, and value highly, Rieman’s take on these subjects.

At All Souls, youth in the 9th & 10th grade are encouraged to enter the Coming of Age program. Coming of Age (CoA) is a year-long spiritual journey where our Youth discover and develop their own religious and spiritual identity while fostering their own religious and spiritual growth. Throughout the year we explore Unitarian Universalist History, and the deeds of our ancestors. Through prompts, ancestral quotes, and journaling, our youth explore UU history and different theologies and ways of worship—all while discovering their own value system and belief system and the multiple ways they are interconnected. This age of discovery […] The post Coming of Age appeared first on BeyondBelief.

“Change never happens at the pace we think it should. It happens over years of people joining together, strategizing, sharing, and pulling all the levers they possibly can. Gradually, excruciatingly slowly, things start to happen, and then suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, something will tip.” -Judith Heumann (1947-2023) How can you strategize to make … Continue reading Change

[This is an edited version of a service reflection.] I would like to share my path to ecological awareness through the lens of  two related concepts, vulnerability and grace.   I see vulnerability as the condition of being exposed to … Continue reading →

This is an excellent view of the meaning of craft. Modern employment leaves workers moving from one thing to another without the grounding in the development of skill that our humanity demands. Things are made ever more "user friendly" without an understanding that we thrive best by doing difficult things that challenge our own personal growth. When things are made user friendly, we are deprived of an understanding of how things work. Make, fix and create.  Assist others in learning lifewise.  

  A diorama at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park depicts the members of the 39th Regiment of U.S. Infantry breaching the Creek fortification during the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. In 1814 Andrew Jackson took a little trip.   But despite the memorable ballad, he never came “down the Mighty Mississip.”   Well before he got to New Orleans he and an army of Tennessee Volunteers , Army Regulars, and a few hundred Cherokee and other native allies plunged deep into the Alabama wilderness in pursuit of a “renegade” faction of the Creek Nation  or Muskogee  known as the Red Sticks .   He found them at a place called Horseshoe Bend and fought them in the most important American battle you have probably never heard of.   Historians...

        Recalling the Western Zen MasterCharlotte Joko Beck Charlotte Joko Beck was born on this day, March 27th, in New Jersey, in 1917. Sadly, I can say little more about her early life. She attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and spent some years as a pianist and piano teacher. She married. They […]

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "26 March 2023 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "19 March 2023 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "12 March 2023 Worship Livestreaming Video"

….[A]s Zora Neale Hurston said, ‘If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.’…</p> The post No Silence about Our Joy appeared first on Taking Up Space.

Popular culture often equates courage with spectacular feats of heroism. But quiet acts, performed by all of us, may be the kind of courage most needed now. Such acts may even determine if democracy – or life on this planet – survives.

I have never considered myself either a woman or a man. From the first days of my exploration, I was very clear that my identity was something else, a trickster-slick and shifting thing that slipped past both words and into uncharted lands. It was, by definition, dangerous. Continue reading Visibility at The Wild Hunt.

Don’t confuse me with the facts, please. My head hurts. It has been 2 1/2 weeks and I am still congested and woke up again last night with a coughing fit after the 4 hour generic NyQuil wore off. I am taking Mucinex during the day time and sucking on Halls cough drops. That all […]

Join UUs and James Carroll for our Biblical Scholarship Class the 4th Sunday of the month.

We are fast closing in on April 4, Spring election day for municipal and local government  units in Illinois.  Early voting and vote by mail are both open.   Unfortunately, Democrats and progressives are notorious for sitting out non-presidential elections.  But this year they need to bestir themselves as right-wingers are running both stealth and overt campaigns to take over local school boards, library districts, and other bodies in a coordinated attack on LGBTQ rights, basic science,  immigrants, and honest U.S.history.  They are rallying their basewith an attack on the “left’s woke agenda” in hopes of stirring up a virtual or real civil war. Chicago Mayoral candidates Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson. The hotly contested ...

Popular culture often equates courage with spectacular feats of heroism. But quiet acts, performed by all of us, may be the kind of courage most needed now. Such acts may even determine if democracy – or life on this planet – survives.

      Marking the First Publication of the Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon was first published on this day, the 26th of March in 1830, in Palmyra, New York. The Book is one of various sacred texts to be first published here in North America in European languages. There are a number. […]

Every day for the past two years, I have done online Spanish lessons using a popular language learning program. Each day, I learn new words, and new ways to express myself in a language I did not grow up speaking. Each day, I get a little closer to the goal of honoring my Spanish-speaking siblings … Continue reading Learning Spanish

This is a small, short, tightly-focused spell book. It contains sigils, spells, prayers, and rituals for resisting oppression. It includes magic for protection, for resistance, and for vengeance. Because sometimes love and light just won’t get the job done.

  HELL IN THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION Some Notes for a Larger Reflection on Universalism James Ishmael Ford After creating the Heavens and the Earth, God created a garden east of Eden and populated it with everything that is good to eat and is pleasant to see. The Divine also planted the tree of everlasting life […]

Please join us on Sunday (26 March 2023) at 11:00 AM for “The Writing on the Wall” by Claudia Harris. Join us as we welcome Claudia Harris back to our pulpit with a message encompassing social justice and our anxiety concerning change. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join … Continue reading "All Ages Worship (26 March 2023)"

Easter Worship Service and Egg Hunt (9 April 2023) Announcement of Special Congregational Meeting (16 April 2023) 2023 Pledge Drive — We Need Your Pledge Now

I read accounts of the Old Way in its day with love and longing. I am profoundly moved when I read the sayings of Odin, whether by myself, in communion with the kindred, or discussing them with college students. I see the lore as touchstones for righteous living, guidelines for right action, and comfort in the darkness. We can deeply care about all of this without pretending that we can go back and do like they did. Continue reading Boxing with Thor at The Wild Hunt.

Please join us on Sunday (26 March 2023) as we continue our new series in our our adult religious education class at 9:00 AM. Our adult religious education class is still meeting via Zoom. We have several persons in the adult religious education class who are new to our faith tradition and others who would … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 26 March 2023"

Children and youth will attend the worship service for the first 15-20 minutes and then are dismissed to their classes. We are now discussing peace, social justice, and the interdependent web and these ideas connect to our Unitarian Universalist faith. Elementary class with Ash McLain and Kevin Henry will explore “Friendship with People Different from … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Classes — 26 March 2023"

Some people here at the retirement community in Wisconsin measured up to 15 inches. But the temperatures are above freezing now, and the snow on Ed’s balcony is already starting to slump. People who live here are saying, “This is the last storm of winter. I hope.”

On Easter Sunday (9 April 2023) at 11:00 AM, we will have a worship service focusing on rebirth and renewal including a communion ritual that is open to all which focuses on shared community. After the service, we will have an Easter egg hunt for toddlers throught 5th grade.  Our middle and high school youth … Continue reading "Easter Worship Service and Egg Hunt (9 April 2023)"

Please join us next Tuesday (28 March 2023) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch. Our weekly Zoom lunch is going dual-platform — join us from home using Zoom or in person in the social hall. Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

My first comment about NAUA — and possibly my last — is in response to a comment made on an old article about the Rev. Todd Eklof. What is NAUA?

As soon as I finished my business, The Way of the River, I thought, “One day I’ll blog again.” And…</p> The post The Space My Story Takes Up appeared first on Catharine Clarenbach.

I'm home from having spent 5 days in Portland with the Guild of Oregon Woodworkers, and one of the things we discussed was teaching and learning styles. To help students through the process of cutting miter key slots in the corners of boxes, we used a team approach and got through safely. One at the saw would cut the corners while the last one to have gone through would help. Having someone on the other side of the cut to lift the box and return it lessened the risk of dropping the box, and gave an additional opportunity to observe the process from a different angle. Each got a turn at cutting and assisting. Please note how Daniel carefully rotates the box to its next cutting position before handing it back. In medical school they say, "...

“The heart can think of no devotion Greater than being shore to the ocean— Holding the curve of one position, Counting an endless repetition.” -Robert Frost, “Devotion” To what or whom are you devoted?

Police and bystanders watch helplessly as more victims jump to their deaths to escape the flames of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on the upper floors of the Asch Building. It was a sunny but rawday in New York City, a late Saturday afternoon and the streets near Washington Square in the immigrant Greenwich Village neighborhood were teaming with traffic.  Around 4:45, as the many garment industry sweatshops were preparing for their “early” Saturday closing, pedestrians began to notice smoke billowing from the upper floors of the Asch Building , at 29 Washington Place. Crowds gathered to watch as horse drawn fire engines and ladder trucks pounded to the scene.  Soon witnesses watched in horror as one after another young women leapt...

Ed died this morning, peacefully in his sleep. Here’s a picture of him when he was 32, sitting next to his four year old daughter: His daughter doesn’t like this photo. She said: no one should be allowed to give little girls hair cuts like that. But since she never looks at this blog, I … Continue reading "Ed"

Never ones to miss an opportunity to teach, my guides use the magic of midnight darkness to summon a TV screen image of Dorothy, finally safe at home in Kansas, trying to convince the adults in her life that her liminal journey really happened. I hear her voice as she says: “And you, and you, and you, and you were there.” Continue reading Ruby Slippers at The Wild Hunt.

Please join us on Saturday (25 March 2023) 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 (25 March 2023)"

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— Easter is rapidly approaching and, because I will be away on leave at that time (thanks to the kindness of the congregation whom I serve) for the first time in my 23 years of ministry I won’t be conducting either the Good Friday Communion Service, or the service on Easter Sunday. In accord with the church’s long-standing, liberal, free religious tradition I, of course, have no authority to tell its members what they must (or must not) be saying in the short addresses and/or thoughts for the day they might choose to off...

Providing honest, caring, and timely feedback is essential to nurturing trust. That’s why we believe Evaluation is an act of Love. We need to be able to speak directly and frankly to each other about what we want and need from each other, what we think could be done differently, as well as celebrating our successes. Every time we love one another enough to offer debrief and appreciation, we deepen our relationships and the power of our collective. We can create groups and communities grounded in relationship and trust. Thus, we can meet the justice work of the moment powerfully and nimbly. In this skill-up, you will practice ways to bring debrief culture and loving feedback to your own context. Watch the presentation View the slides Do...

Worldwide, grassroots civil society organizations face too many barriers to getting vital funds.

“May our lives be blest according to the depth of our love, the persistence of our faith, our willingness to forgive and be compassionate, and in proportion to our yearning to be free.” -Paul Beattie How can you show compassion today?

A particularly heroic rendition of Patrick Henry's Liberty or Death speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1775. On March 23, 1775 Patrick Henry rose before the Virginia House of Burgesses meeting in Richmond to speak in support of mobilizing the Militia to oppose Britishmilitary moves.  The speaker had a reputation as a firebrand.  He was reported to have said:   Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!  The cheering House, already ousted from meeting in Williamsburg by edict of the Royal Governor and sitting illegally, was moved to opt for mobilization.  Or so th...

A Prayer for Dreaming of a World Made Whole: Enoughness Lover of Each and of All, may we pay attention to who is not accessing enough to thrive: enough love, enough acceptance, enough food, enough peace, enough care, enough clean air or water, enough connection to other beings, enough connection...

As I write this, Georgians who are paying attention have just learned that the state’s legislature has voted into law a bill that prevents gender affirming care for Trans minors and their families. It also criminalizes such care for medical … Continue reading →

According to Religion News Service, a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) finds that young adults who are LGBTQ+ are likely to have no religious affiliation: “According to the report, LGBTQ Americans are more likely to have no religious affiliation (50%) than Americans in general (26%).” No surprise there, given how hostile … Continue reading "One reason why young adults are leaving religion"

James T. Kirk, the famous caption of the starship Enterprise, will be born on this date in 2233. I don’t know what you do for negative birthdays, maybe give cake away? Or sing the Happy Birthday song backwards?

The performance of the Eleusinian Mysteries in Eleusis draws inspiration from traditions that have their roots in ancient Greece, offering modern Pagans a window to the past in the celebration of Spring. Continue reading The Eleusinian Mysteries at The Wild Hunt.

Does Paul Quote Jesus? A Quick Look &a Fascinating Observation James Ishmael Ford Someone recently observed in my hearing that Paul never quotes Jesus in his collected and published letters. I was caught by that observation and decided to dig into it. I proceeded to unravel a couple of facts out of the mess of […]

“Forebears who led the way where there was, at first, no way, lend us your persistence, your temerity, your assurance that the moral arc of the universe does, indeed, bend towards justice.” -Karen G. Johnston What lessons are the ancestors teaching you today?

The passenger car installed by Elijah Otis on Broadway in 1857 was not as elaborate as this post-Civil War model, but it did the job. On March 23, 1857 Elijah Graves Otis, a former itinerant Yankee jack-of-all-trades and tinkerer turned entrepreneur installed his first successful commercial passenger elevator in a four story building at 488 Broadway in New York City.  After that, you should pardon the expression, Otis’s fortunes were on the way up as sales for his invention took off. The lift made large scale multi-story industrialand commercial buildings practical.  In a few more decades it would be critical to the development of the skyscraper.  Otis’s invention was not so much the lift itself—various kinds had been in limited...

You only have to read the headlines to realize we are surrounded by vulnerability. Democratic principles are being challenged nationally and globally as strongmen governments gain traction. Our environmental clock is ticking as our planet suffers from rising temperatures and … Continue reading →

  Focus: Ival Stratford Kovner  Spirituality , Skekhinah Reflection When I consider Women Explore, I always recall with such a memorable sensation of a clear communal experience the day I spoke to this group in the Democracy Center. Today I would dare to call this the presence of the “Shekhinah” within our group consciousness.     What would allow description when words tend to mute the actual experience?   I shared my Torah portion from my adult Bat Mitzvah wrapped in my tallit.  For me, chanting Hebraic verses among others gathered  summons the Shekhinah. I might further describe the Shekhinah’s presence as preventing panic and high tension in  near death situation.   Why was the shared glance towards one another so...

READING The Anointing Woman   Mark 14 + Matthew 26: 6-13 SERMON “The Anointing” Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein 2002 The global Christian community enters Holy Week today, the drama of the final days of Jesus of Nazareth’s life, his last meal with his closest community of disciples, his betrayal and arrest, his sham trial, his crucifixion. … Continue reading "Palm Sunday Sermon: Anointing Woman"

The 2023 UN Water Report outlines the dire future with limited water access, with water scarcity becoming endemic, underlining the urgency for global cooperation to ensure safe access to water for everyone. Continue reading “Water Wars:” UNESCO report highlights “vampiric” global water use at The Wild Hunt.

By Esha Chhabra | Unable to put all the secondhand clothes to use, Patricia Ermecheo, [who has been in the business of recycling trash for the past decade], began thinking about how to break down this clothing and turn it into yarn, ready to be spun into a new garment. That could create more systemic change in the industry.

Staff Writer Six UU organizations release joint statement committing to respond to climate-forced displacement.

Back in 1970s, while still in high school, I was really into topographic maps. I tried making topo maps of parts of Concord, Massachusetts, where I then lived. This was back in the days of drawing with pen and ink on paper, so making maps was challenging and fun. I remember reading somewhere about what … Continue reading "Mapping sea level rise"

Lynette Yetter My intuition became honed, for safety and survival. Continue reading "Trusting Intuition"

Regular readers of this little blog know that we like to highlightthe innovations and inventions that have improved the world and made America great.   Take, for instance, the example of the late 20th Century waterbed which was introduced as a class project by design student Charles Prior Hall at San Francisco State University in March of 1968.  At the height of its popularity 19 years later in 1987 nearly one quarter of all mattresses sold in the U.S. were waterbeds. In the late spring of 1971, I took off on one of the great adventures of my young life—hitch hiking from Chicago to the Bay Area of California.  From there, I was to work my way up the Pacific Coast hopping freight trains on an old fashion soap box speaking tour for t...

 Marking the third anniversary of the COVID lockdown, I'm using this blog to reflect on this time and to point towards the audio archive Doorstep Revolution, a project I was part of putting together as part of Gentle/Radical. The second episode reflects on dreams of community, how people expressed desires for a greater sense of local community in Riverside. It was those moments of staying at home

Yesterday I finished a two day box making class with the Guild of Oregon Woodworkers, a total of 36 boxes having been made. Students were pleased, as was I, not only by the numbers and quality of boxes having been made but by the learning that took place. Last night I was the presenter at the monthly Guild meeting and had a great, attentive  audience. There are some very important things that the hands do. They support wisdom and health within families. They support the development of community. They sustain and advance human culture. They support mental health. They assist as we learn to care for each other. They help us to distinguish between that which is real and that which is made to deceive us. Make, fix and create... Today I begi...

I so admire the persistence of the animals in my life. If there’s a need, they will let me know I need to meet it presently, and directly. I hope I can be as articulate and forceful with my boundaries and needs. Nina, my puppy, asks for what she needs, without the notion that our … Continue reading Puppy Persistence

The phrase “age is just a number” is often thrown out in an attempt to comfort or to challenge those of us who feel limited because of our age. But it’s not exactly true. How old do you feel? How old do you act? How old do you want to be?

One of the things that can bring on a rapid experience of vulnerability is an unexpected change. We all know that “things change” and “the only constant in life is change” and “if you don’t like the weather here, just … Continue reading →

Taken with a Fuji X100V using Øyvind Nordhagen’s OWH Darkness Fujifilm recipe Just click on a photo to enlarge it.  Taken back in February, towards the end of the working day.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: The Philly Pentacle, a death at Serpent Mound site, Fredrick Pagan Pride Day seeks volunteers, and more news and announcements. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of March 21, 2023 at The Wild Hunt.

Children in Kindergarten through 6 th grade will start in the Great Hall for the first part of the service. Afterwards, they will meet in their own rooms: Wonderful Welcome (K-3 rd grade) in the classroom next to the dining room Love Connects Us (4 th -6 ... read more . The post Religious Education on March 26th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The LGBTQ group will have its first meeting on March 24, 2023 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM in the UUSS Fireplace Room. The purpose of the group is to create a space for the UU LGBTQ community to come together. If interested in learning more, please contact Jen Pritchard at  ... read more . The post UUSS LGBTQ Group First Meeting this Friday, March 24th! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

What 16th Century religious leader originated the principles of modern Unitarian Universalism during the Protestant Reformation? How did these religions that originated in Europe come to America, and what 4 US founding fathers attended UU services? How did a large number of remarkable women play a role in ... read more . The post Learn about UU History (in person OR online) appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The Hudson-Mohawk region Unitarian Universalists will gather for a joint worship service on Sunday, April 23, in the beautiful chapel space at the Doane Stuart School in Troy. The service begins at 10:30 am. Carpool or use public transit if you are able, and know ... read more . The post Annual regional UU worship service Sunday April 23rd, with special guest Leah Penman appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

U.S. border policies only reinforce xenophobia, racism, and intolerance. 

      Rosie the Riveter as an Icon of Human Possibility In 2017 the US Congress designated today, the 21st of March as National Rosie the Riveter Day. Of course it is now well more than three quarters of a century since the Second World War, even my cohort, the children of those who […]

I'm in Portland, Oregon with the Guild of Oregon Woodworkers, making boxes. We have twelve students and studio assistants.  We're making lift lid boxes, hinged boxes, and today will begin making sliding lid boxes. I'm having a great time. They have a new teaching classroom equipped with benches and power tools, allowing them to hold classes without interrupting other guild activities. The Guild is a wonderful resource for anyone of any skill level with a desire to learn and grow. If you are in the Portland area and feel a need to connect with others, you'll find the Guild welcoming you. I noticed that they are also preparing for a visit with Mary May, my favorite American woodcarver. Tonight I'll make a presentation at the monthly guild...

A weed is a wildflower in a place where it is unwanted. Let us cultivate the wildness to let the weeds persist. -Michael Tino (CLF) How can you cultivate wildness today?

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain. James Baldwin Recently, I went with a friend to the Museum … Continue reading →

  Pocahontas imagined as a Powhatan "princess" with facial features based on her from life 1616 English portrait. On March 21, 1617 Rebecca Rolfe, the 22 year old wifeof John died, probably of smallpox or pneumonia, in Englandleaving behind an infant son, Thomas.  This incident, while tragic was so common that it would hardly be remembered today except for Rebecca’s maiden name—Pocahontas.   She was born about 1598 in what is now Virginia , the daughter of Wahunsunacah, principal chief of a network of Algonquian speaking tribesand known by the ceremonial title of Powhatan .   Her birth name was Matoaka.                                                                                ...