By Kristen Joiner | “So, you’ve been a feminist and worked in human rights your whole career?” Judy Heumann asked me the first time we met to discuss the possibility of writing her memoir. “Right.” “And you never knew disability was a civil rights issue?” Since I’d already owned up to this, I nodded again. “So, what makes you think you can write my story?”

I mentioned that I had a short clip in the Love Unrelenting documentary by Stephen HAuse, but what makes me go back is the short (2~3 minute) clips on particular subjects that he puts out regularly. I highly recommend you subscribe and watch them.

The steady footing of the ballet dancer is captivating. Their grace is astonishing. How many years of preparation did it take to achieve this mastery? How many weeks trudging off to the studio before school? How persistent they must have been in those early days when it seemed too hard to continue! -Lori Stone (CLF)  … Continue reading Dancers

Have you ever noticed a tiny struggling plant growing in the crack of a sidewalk? Do you wonder at its resilience? When I was a child we played a game of jumping over cracks in the pavement to avoid “breaking … Continue reading →

  The United State Supreme Court surprised everyone by upholding the Adamson Act in the face of a looming and crippling national railroad strike just weeks before the U.S. entered World War I. One of the enduring myths about the U . S . Supreme Court is that in its lofty supposed impartiality it is aboveand immune from popular pressure, politics, or protest.   Of course, since it first asserted its right to rule on the Constitutionality of laws enacted by Congress and executive actions of the President as a Federalist thumb-in-the-eye to Thomas Jefferson , decisions by the court have often been nearly nakedly political. Over most of its history the Court was in the continuous hands of the most conservative elements of society and natur...

(I did, and therein hangs a tale in Massachusetts. Read on what was said to my fellow citizens. You may wish to do the same where you live).           There’s a sad, sorry history of our coming to these shores. Some strive to face and correct the injustices covered by such truth; others may care […]

          Hello, Valentines. Each February, storefronts are sick with every color of red and within are the obligatory flaming crimson cards and all the candy that’s bad for us. It’s also Black History month and, aye, there’s the rub.           Love for people on the basis of their common humanity takes a back seat to […]

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Hekate event, Vatican artifacts, Announcmeent and more news! Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of March 13, 2023 at The Wild Hunt.

We have several exciting services coming up in the next few months. To kick things off, Rev. Tamara Lebak returns to the All Souls pulpit on March 19 with “Feel Together.” The following Sunday, March 26 is Heritage Sunday, when All Souls will celebrate its 102nd birthday! We’ll have choir performances in both services, with a reception in Emerson Hall. Bring a friend! Services will be in person and online. Two opportunities to be inspired by the Youth of All Souls! Coming of Age SundaySunday, April 2 | 10 am ServiceThroughout the year in their Coming of Age program, our […] The post Exciting Services Coming Up! appeared first on BeyondBelief.

  One of the strongest tools our nation has in combating hunger is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps). Unfortunately, this vital program is under attack, threatening the food security of millions of families. – Moms Rising     Promise the Children stands with MomsRising in speaking out to protect SNAP and the millions of people that depend on this vital program to feed their families. Tell Congress to strengthen SNAP ASAP – send a read more... The post March Action Alert: Tell Congress to Strengthen SNAP! appeared first on Promise the Children.

I will be preaching next on April 30, May 21 and June 25 at Universalist National Memorial Church, Washington, D.C.

I wonder how many times in our lives someone communicated to us this message: “There’s something wrong with you!”  Of course, the message is never delivered just like that. The “something” is likely defined more specifically, and then the charge … Continue reading →

Don’t forget that breaks to catch your breath, to assess how far you’ve come, to readjust your path are part of the process. Your persistence allows for you to rest when you need it, because life is a journey. There is no end goal more important than you arriving whole and free.  -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) … Continue reading Breaks

                                        Jack Kerouac hanging out. In 1957 Viking Press published a book that may be one of the most significant American cultural artifactsof the 20th Century— On the Road by Jack Kerouac .   It has been compared to Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass— a fresh look at America though entirely self-conscious eyes and presented in a revolutionary literary form.  It was hailed as “the Bible of the Beat Generation.”  But Truman Capote haughtily dismissed it—“That’s not writing, that's typing.” Jack Kerouac was born to French Canadianparents in the old mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts on March 12, 1922.  The working class family spoke Joual , a roughdialect of Québéc...

I realized that I have pretty much abandoned Mastodon. That’s the non-commercial social media site that has been touted as a replacement for Twitter, after Elon Musk took over Twitter and turned it into a cesspool of hate speech. Not that I adopted Mastodon as a replacement for Twitter. I just wanted to find a … Continue reading "The fate of social media"

  COVENANT, NOT CREED March 12, 2023 PUUF, Rev. Kit Ketcham   How many of you grew up in a religious environment where you recited a set of statements that you were expected to believe, things about God and Jesus, salvation, and other weighty expectations, particularly if you were a little kid at the time, growing up in a Christian household. Do you remember the names of any of the various creeds that you learned or recited in a church service?  Creeds are statements of theological belief and they can be pretty demanding. Take the Apostles Creed, for example, which is often included in traditional church services: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,  

Come find out more in a Forum presented by Liz May Martineau. Liz will give a short history of how the project was started, when it will be opened to the public, and what you can do to help.

No, I wasn’t hit by a falling tree this week, although I saw a lot of evidence of trees that had fallen earlier across the trails. I try not to hike in wind storms or heavy rain, and so I reduce the odds of being felled by a tree, but it could still happen. When […]

I spent the past two days at ESSA building this table from white oak and a small cabinet from basswood. Both will be featured in Popular Woodworking magazine at some future date. The big dog is Rosie, checking out the aroma of freshly sawn and sanded white oak.  The table is designed using torsion rods to hold all the parts in relationship and to provide structural stability. Despite being relatively light and airy, the table is very rigid and strong. As far as I know the design and the use of torsion rods in this way is original from my own work. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an inventor. I guess I am one. Make, fix and create. Learn while you're at it.

Weekend Editor Eric O. Scott examines the current assault on transgender rights and calls for the Pagan community to show support to our queer siblings. Continue reading Editorial: Trans people are under attack. What are Pagans going to do about it? at The Wild Hunt.

This Sunday will be a "Question Box" sermon. Write your questions down at the top of the service, and I'll answer as many as I can during sermon time.

St Francis Xavier Meets a Zen Master James Ishmael Ford It was on this day, the 12th of March, in 1622 that the Roman church declared Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier saints. They were two of the seven men who took the founding vows creating the Jesuit order in 1534. Xavier spent some years […]

I read recently about how important it is for young children (and all of us) to learn the feeling of futility — to know what it is to try something over and over and for it to not work, because it simply can’t. It’s only when we feel futility around changing something external to us … Continue reading Futility

“Someone else is getting something I’m not and I’m mad about it.” Envy is a vice that adds to the misery of the envious and does nothing to make things better for anyone.

We don't know what old Indian allegedly said it but versions of this have been floating around for decades mocking Daylight Savings Time.  Gotta admit whoever said it, he had a point. If your forgot to re-set your clocks last night, you are probably already late for church or at least late retrieving the Sunday paper from the stoop.  It happens every year, no matter how many announcements are made on the TV news, radio, newspapers, and now by cute Facebook memes.  And some of the folks who did fiddle with their time pieces got it wrong—is it spring forward, fall backor the other way around? It’s vexing.  And some think, foolish.  Take to oft quoted bit of folk wisdom usually ascribed to some Native American sage—Daylight Savin...

One of my favorite Youtube videos is titled “Guess: JAKE or Young KID? — Ukulele Challenge.” If you know anything about the current ukulele scene, you’ll immediately figure out that “Jake” refers to Jake Shimabukuro, a ukulele virtuoso who is probably best known for his ukulele versions of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Bohemian … Continue reading "Jake or young kid"

12 weeks of instructions in the philosophy and practice of Yang Style Taiji 24 Forms, Taiji Qigong 18 Forms, & The Eight Brocades. When: Saturday mornings from  9:00 – 10:00 a.m. beginning 2/11/2023 Where: Fellowship Hall, Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, 1738 North Sage St., Los Alamos Who: Adults and children age 12 and up who …<p> Taiji as Spiritual Practice Read More »

  Zen Comes West: Recalling Zen Master Soen Nakagawa James Ishmael Ford It was on this day, the 11th of March, in 1984 that Rinzai Zen master Soen Nakagawa died at Ryutakuji monastery in Japan. It’s been a while since I’ve noted the day and this remarkable figure at the foundation of Zen come West. […]

“May your strength persist like carbon, Which has enabled all life our solar system knows, Has known, or will ever know— From diplodocuses to dandelions; From blue–green algae to blue whales; And from the katydids that cling to branches and chirrup through the night, To the kale that clings to life aboard the International Space … Continue reading Carbon

Photo of Paul Wienpahl in his Zen Diary (1970) 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— Last week I brought before you the dilemma that faces any genuinely liberal, inquiring and free religion, namely: that even as, at key moments in its practice, it must be philosophically pragmatic — encouraging it’s adherents regularly to ask the question of whether or not this religion’s beliefs and practices remain helpful and can continue to be held with a clean heart because there is enough evidence either to support them or, at least, to not rule them out of court as p...

  Raoul Walsh behind the camera as young director. Raoul Walsh , the director in an eye patch long before John Ford or Nicholas Ray, had a long career in films spanning the pioneering years of D. W. Griffith in the silents to wide screen Technicolor epics of the mid-‘60s.   He specialized in action pictures—gritty crime dramas, westerns, war movies .   Meaty parts for women—with a few notable exceptions—were rare and his friend Jack Pickford (elder brother of Mary) told him that “Your idea of light comedy is to burn down a whorehouse.”   In the process he made some of the most memorable films in Hollywood historynever to win Oscars. Walsh was born on March 11, 1887 in New York City to a comfortably middle class lace curta...

Please join us on Sunday (12 March 2023) at 11:00 AM for “There Will Your Heart Be” 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. … Continue reading "All Ages Worship (12 March 2023)"

17 March 2023 St. Patrick’s Day Party 2023 Pledge Drive — We Need Your Pledge Now

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 — Exploration of “Friends and Enemies” (especially … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Classes — 12 March 2023"

Please join us on Sunday (12 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 — 12 March 2023"

Please join us next Tuesday (14 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.

Friends, The Mountain Desert District will soon merge with 3 other districts to become the Pacific Western Region for real. Before the merger, the MDD has $30,000 to distribute as Chalice Lighter grants. The number and amounts of grants will be determined by the applications received. To apply for a

I don’t take estrogen just to alleviate my gender dysphoria I also take it to help increase my gender congruence I don’t just wanna feel not bad about my gender I also wanna feel it in a way that’s euphoric I wanna get to a place where my gender it’s It’s become one less thing … Continue reading I Don’t Take Estrogen Just To Alleviate My Gender Dysphoria

We are inundated with bad news and a self-perpetuating negative spin. If we’re not ever mindful, it can be easy to fall into the trap of pessimism and disenchantment. We face challenges that can feel insurmountable, but active optimism is an antidote. Re-enchantment is an antidote. Rewilding is an antidote. Continue reading Recalling the Body: a Rite for Spring at The Wild Hunt.

By Naomi McDougall Jones | For female directors fortunate enough to be working, they can expect the average production budget for their film to be smaller than those of their male peers. Film budgets shrink by 20 percent when a woman has the starring role due to untrue but enduring industry “common knowledge” that “no one wants to see films about women.” Since female directors are more likely to either choose or be given films with female leading characters, they disproportionately suffer from these smaller budgets that are assigned to such films.

While I wish I had something pretty or pithy to observe about spring in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m mostly thinking about the amount of live programming blossoming right in front of us. Through partnership with congregations, individual UUs, and our UU State Action Networks, we’re all able to “take shifts for the revolution,” as Rev. Ashley Horan says. I see the evidence of that daily in the stories and updates from around the country of UUs and other people of faith and conscience who are fighting for our trans beloved and who are fiercely resisting legislative attacks on climate, decriminalization, and trans children and families. (If you haven’t yet, read the beautiful op-ed by Rev. Sara LaWall from Boise Unitarian Universa...

        Remembering Harriet Tubman, the Woman Called Moses Araminta Ross was born a slave somewhere around 1820 in Maryland. One of vastly too many. Her life, as was the norm for the enslaved, was brutal. At one time when one of her owners threw a heavy weight at another slave while she […]

A Star Trek musical is in the works. Called “Khan!!! The Musical!: A Parody Trek-tacular,” it will premiere Off-Broadway in early May. The premise? Data the android, while learning about human culture, finds out about Broadway musicals, and programs his own holographic musical. Which features things like Vulcan tap dancing… and “mutant space-chickens.” They lost … Continue reading "Not ready for prime time"

I recently saw the movie “The Jesus Revolution”. I was dubious about seeing it given my animist, polytheist, and UU orientation. It is about the “Jesus Freaks” in the late 60’s, of which, I was kind of one, myself! I … Continue reading →

A Prayer for Dreaming A World Made Whole By Food Justice - Week of March 12, 2023 Lover of Dreaming, dream with us a world made whole with food justice, where no one hungers and no one thirsts from lack of access to quality food and clean water, where we...

If I had to choose a theme in life, it would be persistence. What is the other option? I have found that I am at times curious where my path will lead and therefore I keep going, even when I am in the  midst of pain and despair. Persistence is how I know I want … Continue reading Centering Love

  Transfer of Louisiana  by Ford P. Kaiser for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition--The St. Louis World's Fair--in 1904. On March 10, 1804 the final official transfer of vast lands stretching north from the mouth of the Mississippi River and far into the interior of North America was conducted at St . Louis.   A small French Army detachmentbrought down the Tricolors and a not much larger contingent of U . S . Army regulars ran up the Stars and Stripes in the muddy streets of the settlement.   A few score civilians, mostly French with a sprinkling of early bird American land speculators, trappers, and Native Americans watched.   After shaking hands all around, everyone went to celebratewith plenty of good stiff drinks.   With that the...

  —collected by Paula Chandoha Article, The Marginalian, Robin Wall Kimmerer https://mailchi.mp/ themarginalian/moss?e= 8d49b76b80  The Marginalian is a source of articles on well being and culture with strong emphasis on art and literature. https://www.themarginalian. org/2015/05/13/gathering-moss- robin-wall-kimmerer/?mc_cid= 8b42268e4c&mc_eid=749c58947a   On the the birth of ecology: https://www.themarginalian. org/2022/02/04/universe-in- verse-bloom/  Climate Change:  Interesting piece   https://www.farmaid.org/ issues/soil-water-climate/ farmers-and-climate-change- myths-vs-facts/ Abortion rights in the USA: https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2023/mar/02/destruction- us-abortion-laws-human-rights- violation-un? Spiritual we...

TWH spoke with Erik Lacharity about the Heathen Confederation of Canada as it approaches its two year anniversary since its founding in March of 2021. Continue reading Inclusive Heathenry in Canada at The Wild Hunt.

A brief history of WomenExplore: In 1973 Brita Stendahl started the Theological Opportunities Program as a way of giving the wives (and other interested women) a taste of what their husbands were experiencing at HDS.  She was assisted by a small advisory committee of women.  Many of the women who attended TOP went on to divinity school, not necessarily at Harvard, in their own right. In 1978 Elizabeth Dodson Gray took over as "Coordinator" (her title) and radically transformed the program. At first she opened up the Advisory Committee to any woman who had attended TOP.  Liz developed a feminist method of taking the issues that were on the minds of the women in the Advisory Committee and developing a series of ten topics under a commo...

A Zen Unitarian Take on the History of Christianity Zen teacher and Unitarian Universalist minister James Ishmael Ford provides a romp through the history of Christianity. He is the author of five books on aspects of the Zen tradition. His sixth book, an exploration of the arc of the spiritual life, is due from Shambhala […]

Yesterday, going through old files on my laptop, I found a letter from October 1994 that I never sent–so really, more of a letter to myself. It described how my Innu ancestors would interrupt my daily life with their insistence on being recognized and acknowledged. I hadn’t thought about that for a long time, and […]

When I was young, being vulnerable was not what you wanted to be. It meant weakness. It meant that everyone had to tiptoe around you and that you couldn’t do anything for yourself. You always needed help.  That is something … Continue reading →

Sometimes we get by through sheer will, through persisting despite the odds against us. Sometimes, we need to hang on and inch ourselves forward until we are somewhere better. What do you need in order to hang on through today?

This map shows Land Districts and Offices in charge of selling Western land--a primary income source for the Federal government which helped keep taxes and tariffs low.  Some land agents, however, were corrupt and scandals common.  Individual speculators and organized stock companies borrowed money to buy vast tracts of land in the hopes of selling at inflated prices to settlers.  But most settlers could not afford the asking prices, the speculators and companies often could not pay their loans.  The result was financial failure and instability on one hand and a huge pent-up demand for cheaper land.  The Land Act of 1820 was meant to address both problems. The Land Act of 1820 is a nearly forgotten piece of legislation passed by Con...

Recently, I got introduced to two new ways of thinking. First, I’ve been taking ukulele lessons. My teacher gave me a transcription of part of the Largo movement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. As I play through that, it feels like my brain is being rewired. (“Rewired” is actually not the correct way to describe whatever … Continue reading "Different way of thinking"

TWH assesses what progress has been made since the last International Women's Day. Continue reading International Women’s Day: The state of progress at The Wild Hunt.

Thinking of Mother Moshan, one of the Early Zen Masters James Ishmael Ford March 8th is International Women’s Day. And, I find my thoughts turning again to women in Zen. While the records are scant, nonetheless there are clear traces of women who were masters of the Zen way from its emergence as a distinctive […]

First UU Nashville is joining with Tennessee Valley UU Church which is working with Planned Parenthood, a Knoxville-based interfaith clergy coalition, and UU congregations in Eastern parts of the state to pull together a large people of faith contingent to show up for Planned Parenthood's Advocacy Day in Nashville on March 21.

Tomo Hillbo We must unstick our minds if we want to bring change into the world. Continue reading "Unsticking My Mind"

History is being made today by women all over the world. This Women's History Month, we are highlighting global changemakers.

My Kindergarten students have been wanting to make toy cats from wood, so that's what we did today.  To make the cats, students traced from a template I'd prepared and used Vaughan Bear Saws to make the angle cuts forming the ears and legs. The arms are made from 1/4 in. dowels inserted in holes drilled with a cordless drill. Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning lifewise.

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to acknowledge and laud the strengths, accomplishments, and collective agency of women around the world.

Joy comes in it’s own time, but we can put ourselves in places where joy is likely to find us, where we’re likely experience it. Joy can’t be commanded, but it can be facilitated. And the actions that facilitate joy can be scheduled.

I have felt vulnerable most of my life. Many times it felt horrible and as though my very existence was threatened. The fear, anger, obsessiveness, compulsiveness, and even terror would sometimes overwhelm me until I was only aware of those … Continue reading →

When do you decide to give up? When it’s hard? When you no longer want to meet your goal? It’s ok to give up, it isn’t a failure. But if you have one more try within, persist. Keep going. Obtaining your goal, something you deeply desire, is worth the effort of trying.  -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) … Continue reading One More

March 7, 1965 was Bloody Sunday in Selma , Alabama .   On that day massed Alabama State Police attacked peaceful demonstrators attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on a march from Selma to the state capitol at Montgomery to protest suppression of voting rights.   Members of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had been conducting voter registration drivesin the area since 1963 and had encounteredescalating violence.   After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , efforts stepped up.   On July 6 of that year SNCC leader John Lewis attempted to lead a march on the county court house to register voters.   He and other marchers were beaten and arrested.   A few days later a local judge handed down a sweep...

This coming Sunday is the day when we switch to Daylight Savings Time — and lose an hour of sleep. So I decided to do a service all about sleep. I found several poems about sleep that I’m going to use. But I’m also going to work in a passage from the Nevi’im, the minor … Continue reading "Sleep"

George Orwell on Clear Thinking, Good Writing, and, as I find it, a Spiritual Practice James Ishmael Ford There are many spiritual practices. Some are more useful than others. For me the heart of that matter is revealed in Zen meditation and koan introspection. But even so there are other disciplines that touch the heart […]

Holli Emore, is the first Pagan to be named as board chair of Interfaith Partners of South Carolina. Continue reading Interfaith Partners of South Carolina appoints new board chair 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 This Sunday in Religious Education appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

We are pleased to announce the annual call for applications for grants from UU Schenectady’s Social Justice Action Fund. We will offer grants between $2,200 and $5,400 for social justice initiatives and activities working towards bringing about systemic change. Applications are due by April 30, ... read more . The post Annual Call for Proposals! – UUSS Social Justice Action Fund appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Sunday, March 12 “Soul Matters” Sharing Circle Sunday! (This circle will be held once a month, usually in lieu of our traditional worship service; please join us in our beautiful sanctuary the rest of the month for our regularly-scheduled worship services!) March 12, 2023 10:30am – Noon Unitarian Church of Marlborough & Hudson 80 Main St.,   [ … ] The post Sunday, March 12 ~ Sharing Circle Sunday (in lieu of regular worship) ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

Hudson MA Women’s Red Tent: HERstory Facilitated by:   Nancy Rogers and Jody Zolli Date/Time:   Saturday, March 18; 1:30pm – 6:00pm Cost:   $10 suggested donation Location:   UCMH Union Hall Hudson, MA Women’s Red Tent Gatherings: Celebrating over 12 years of Sharing Our Stories and Creating Community! Facebook eventinvite: https://fb.me/e/SCGtSnwg The Red Tent movement , inspired by Anita   [ … ] The post Saturday, March 18 ~ Hudson MA Women’s Red Tent: HERstory ~ 1:30 p.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

I preached from this sermon manuscript (but departed from it significantly) for the Universalist National Memorial Church, on March 5, 2023 using lessons from the Revised Common Lectionary: Genesis 12:1-4a and Romans 4:1-5, 13-17. My thanks to Pastor Gatton for inviting me back to the pulpit, and my thanks to you for welcoming me. I … Continue reading "Sermon: “Understanding Abraham”"

Once a month I run Contemplative Prayer and Chanting, on the second Wednesday of the month, 7.30pm, on zoom.This is a time of chanting and guided contemplative prayer to open the heart to Love. This practice is rooted in the conviction that there is a universal, unconditional source of love within each person and that it is possible to have a personal encounter with this source. The source has

I never liked to practice piano as a kid, maybe because I did not know how to be persistent. I always wanted and hoped for a quick reward, and never quite connected that my mediocre playing was directly related to my haste. As an adult, I’m all about being slow, steady, patient, yet determined; and … Continue reading Piano Lessons

A few weeks ago as I was ironing this shirt for church I noticed it was thread bare in some places. As I moved the hot iron over it I could see those threads pulling even more. I thought, “This … Continue reading →

  Last night at sundown the Jewish holiday Purim began and continues until tonight’s sunset.   It is one of my favorites of all religious celebrations.   As a Rabbi who spoke at the Peace and Unity Prayer Vigil at the Islamic Foundation North in Waukegan a few years ago said. “Purim is a holy day when we are commanded to have fun.” To familiarize folks with her story and the joyous festival which commemorates it—I’m talking to my fellow Goyim—we review just what the hell went on. A young girl, Esther, is picked by a drunken Persian king to be his new bride.   She keeps her Jewish identity a secret.   Meanwhile her protector and cousin Mordecai discovers a plotto kill the king and by informing saves his life.       

I’ve gone back and forth about whether to attend General Assembly this year. At first, I was planning to attend in person. I have enough money in my professional expenses budget. I was looking forward to those informal interpersonal interactions that happen at conferences. On the other hand, it looks like it’s going to be … Continue reading "General Assembly: to go, or not to go"

The Love of Money: A Practical Spirituality in Zen Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity James Ishmael Ford “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Mark 10:25 As someone raised a poor people’s Baptist through my childhood and […]

The UUA responds to the most recent onslaught of oppressive laws and policies threatening the lives of trans and nonbinary+ children and the LGBTQIA+ community and continues to work for justice and the ability of all people to thrive. Continue reading "UUA Responds to Growing Legislative Attacks Against Trans and Nonbinary+ Kids and the LGBTQIA+ Community"

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Women's History Month begins, CHS announces the Wendy Griffin Professor of the Year Award, events, announcements, and more! Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of March 6, 2023 at The Wild Hunt.

Taken with a Fuji X100V using Øyvind Nordhagen’s Kodak Ektar 100 Recipe Just click on a photo to enlarge it.    It has long struck me that, in the European and North American context anyway, Christianity, if it is to survive as a living and relevant religious tradition in the twenty-first century, needs consciously to naturalize itself; it needs to find ways to become an explicitly, religious naturalist tradition, or so I think. But I would think that, of course, because I’m a reasonably long-standing member of the Religious Naturalist Association (RNA) and am also the convener of the RNA’s Clergy Group. One of the places I regularly find this naturalizing process of Christianity at work in a very visible fashion is in graveyard...

The Religious Exploration Staff at All Souls is deeply troubled by the wave of hate sweeping the United States and our own Oklahoma legislature targeting our queer families, most especially families with trans, nonbinary and/or gender exploring children and youth.  Our state currently has 34 anti-trans bills being heard by the legislature that have a very real chance of becoming Oklahoma law and changing our lives in ways we have yet to imagine. We express our unequivocal support and love for the trans people in our lives: our families, our colleagues, and the children, youth and adults in our community […] The post A Message to our Families appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Arthur Hirsch Faith groups in the United States respond to climate change.

I had a dream last night in which I had a conversation with Jimmy Carter, our former American President who is now in hospice care. I touched his arm and felt such strength in it, a hardness like my own. I mentioned how different the world would be if Ronald Reagan had not won. He knew exactly what I meant and rose up to his full height.  Carter, after all, was a true conservative. He championed American energy independence, knowing our dependence on foreign oil was a hazard to our world's future. He put solar panels on the White House as a suggestion of what what our future would best become... one in which we preserved the planet and delayed the terrible effects of global warming. Ask a conservative what they are preserving, and they'...

  Today is Casimir Pulaski Day.   If you just responded with a “huh?” you don’t live in Illinois where it is an official state holidaycelebrating Polish ethnic pride and political clout.    And, by the way, the Revolutionary War officer remembered as the Father of the Cavalry who died in a glorious but reckless lancer charge on British artillery at the siege of Savanah. For decades Chicago ’ s huge Polish community—the Toddling Town was the largest Polish city in the world—yearned for acceptance and proof that they had muscled their way at last to equal recognition with the city’s other major ethnic groups .   The damned Irish , who lorded it over everyone else had St. Patrick ’ s Day and two, count ‘em, two big Pa...

Recently, I have had several acute medical issues, including one that sent me to the hospital. I have had several chronic medical issues, including degenerative eye conditions, such as functional blindness; diabetes, since my early 40’s; and psoriatic arthritis. For … Continue reading →

I remember when my toddlers would ask me for something over and over and over. At the time, it seemed funny, cute, and also (eventually) annoying. But now I realize that they were practicing persistence, a skill they would be able to use throughout their lives as they advocate for themselves and for others, for … Continue reading Toddler Persistence

Justice requires persistence. It requires fortitude to speak truth to power, sometimes again and again and again, until that truth is understood. How have you experienced someone speaking truth to power?

I went for a walk at the Norris Reservation in Norwell, Mass., today. Walking around Gordon’s Pond, I saw Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) beginning to sprout. Perhaps two dozen tightly curled green and purple spathes dotted the ground on either side of the boardwalk. One of the spathes had opened, revealing the spadix inside, with … Continue reading "Sign of spring"