By Eboo Patel | Do you remember the first demonstration that your mother and I took you to? It was the fifty-year commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s march through the South Side neighborhood of Marquette Park. Do you know what King endured that day? Five thousand people lined the streets of the neighborhood to scream racist slurs and throw bottles and bricks at King and a few hundred peaceful marchers.

Sunday, June 19, 10:30 a.m. Coming Down the Mountain Led by Guest Preacher Francesca Cipriani   We will hear the story of a young woman who hunts an unusual and powerful being with her grandmother. We will explore what this story can teach us about what we need from others and what we must do on our   [ … ] The post Sunday, June 19 ~ Coming Down the Mountain ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

Climate forced displacement is on the news every day.  Most recently, the fires in New Mexico have displaced up to 18,000 people in the largest wildfire in the state’s history.  The Hermit’s Peak and Canyon Calf fires are only about 65% contained; the true impacts are hard to gauge, and it will take years to recover.    Climate disasters will challenge every community.  How can UUs prepare?  How can we center justice in our response?  How can our congregations be beacons of hope in these trying times?   Here are two things you can do right now:   Check out the recording of Fostering Local Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care, featuring Rev. Karen Hutt from the UU Trauma Response Ministry; Halcyo...

Nathan Ryan We have a holy obligation to bring about paradise on this earth; each generation helps us do that. Continue reading "Our Great Calling"

Jail Brakers , the program that offers support and services to the familiesof incarcerated individuals, and the experts at Prairie State Legal Services are offering a special sealing and expungement of cannabis records and convictions presentation at Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 5603 Bull Valley Road in McHenrythis Saturday June 18 from 5 to 7 pm. After the State of Illinois legalized recreational use of cannabis—marijuana—the Legislature passed an automatic expungement of the recordsof those convicted of simple possession of small amountsof the drug.  Many others, however, convicted of possession of larger quantities and/or saleand distribution are required to actively petition to have their records removed.  ...

Bless the fathers, made by choice, adoption, marriage, neighborhood, extended kinship, and blood Bless the fathers, however they are gendered, the ones who nurture gardens of wonder and hard work The ones who nurture families of enoughness and generous laughter The ones who are still figuring this whole fatherhood thing...

Devotional artwork is a tangible reminder of the spiritual presence of our Gods. It gives us a clear focus for meditation, contemplation, and worship. This new statue of the Morrigan is a meaningful, powerful, and beautiful depiction of the Great Queen.

When the world gets scary, the comfort of home becomes even more important. We need places where we can let our guard down – where the hypervigilance so many of us adopted during the pandemic can ease a little bit. For a lot of us, relaxing has become difficult. Devices that keep us connected to […] The post Threshold Magick for Troubled Times appeared first on Nature's Sacred Journey.

Part of maintaining personal integrity is keeping the promises we make to others. Sometimes, this is a challenge. When have you felt challenged to keep a promise?  

        At this moment in my life, I suffer from an abundance of offers of free books. Well, not actually free. The cost is a promise to review it. Mostly I decline these offers. The truth is the stack of books I want to read for my purposes is dangerously high. And […]

Imagine you walk each day from the backdoor to the outhouse, and keep the path well worn. Grass and loose stones are knocked unceremoniously from the path by the movement of your feet, and weeds are kept clear by the same effect. If you've been away from home for the summer you'll have found the weeds grown up in your absence and the journey to and from may take greater effort. You may need a weed-whacker to restore the path. But when the weeds are cut back, there again you'll find your well-worn path. The same applies in the use of tools as repeated use builds neural pathways to and from the brain. Let the tool fall into disuse for a time and when you pick it up again, it may feel a bit awkward at first, but the comfort of the grip will...

Taken with a Fujifilm X100F Just click on the photo to enlarge it   One of the places I most often find myself walking to (in all seasons of the year) is Grantchester, and the most pleasant (and iconic) route there is that which takes you by the River Cam through Grantchester Meadows. In my very early teens, and long before I knew Grantchester Meadows first-hand, it was already part of my own inner landscape thanks to Roger Water’s song of the same name found on Pink Floyd’s 1969 LP, Ummagumma.  In consequence, Grantchester Meadows has been part of me for most of my life.  Now, although no swan is mentioned in the lyric (which I reproduce below), at 4 min. 15 seconds the sound of a honking swan can be heard followed by that oh so ...

Development for both filming and the proposed building of a law enforcement training facility threats the forest that remains in DeKalb county and south of Atlanta Continue reading The effort to save Atlanta’s Forests at The Wild Hunt.

It’s raining men, and not the ones The Weather Girls sang about. They’re raining on Pride parades with violent intent. A U-Haul truckful of members from the white supremacist group, Patriot Front, was arrested before they could disrupt a Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Proud Boys stormed a Drag Queen story hour at a library in San Lorenzo, CA. Baptist ministers in Idaho and Texas went viral for calling on the government to execute gay people. Cancel all the hallelujahs for them.

A year of living, so much blooming or in bud We give thanks this day. We give thanks to our high school Bridgers, Duncan and Blake and their families who led a moving service last Sunday. We give thanks to everyone who enjoyed the flowers of the Flower ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – June 14th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Congratulations to our bridging seniors, Blake Bender and Duncan Brown, who were celebrated at this past Sunday’s service! And, congratulations to all our graduating high school seniors as you transition out of youth and into young adulthood! Know that you will always have a home and people ... read more . The post Religious Education News – June 14th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

  Note:   We’ve been here before but slightly updated to account for recent catastrophe and on-going embarrassments. In case you hadn’t noticed today is officially Flag Day , a demi-holiday easily overlooked.  It is celebratedby displaying the American Flag.  Veterans groups often organize solemn flag disposal ceremonies .   No other country on Earth makes quite the fetish of its flag as does the United States.  The word idolatry comes to mind.  At its worst it elevatesthe symbol—the Flag—over the substance—the democratic values espoused in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Constitution.  It is an absolute truism that those who wrap themselves most in the Flag—and these days that is not just a figur...

Having gone into such delicate detail with the previous drawing, I tried to do the opposite with the interesting light on this leaf. How quick and rough can the marks be and still get the shadow across? I’m not so good at quick and rough, and immediately started refining. An old story, and not only […]

–I spent a lot of time with this drawing yesterday! We had a terrific four-hour campus vision workshop at UUCPA, and I drew during a lot of it. With all that time, I sank into delicious detail. Will I go back to it and do more? Maybe, maybe not. One thing is clear: these leaves, […]

I preached from this sermon manuscript for the Universalist National Memorial Church, on June 12, 2022 using lessons from the Revised Common Lectionary: Romans 5: 1-5  and John 16: 12-15. Each time I preach in this church, I thank Pastor Gatton for inviting me and you for welcoming me. This isn’t just a bit of … Continue reading "Sermon: “The Right Use of the Spirit”"

Each of us should be allowed to maintain our integrity in ways that matter to us. Each of us is entitled to consent–and each of us is asked to respect the consent of others as they maintain their integrity. How do you respect the integrity of others?

Statue of Samantha from Bewitched vandalized, arson attempt at TST, Crossings of the Veil and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of June 13, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Tens of thousands joined the March for Our Lives event in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.  Their voices were magnified by more than 450 local event in 45 states including the one in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Saturdaymore than 50,000 people attended the March for Our Lives flagship event in Washington, D.C.   Many thousands more marched in big cities like Chicago and Los Angeles.   And in every cornerof the country there were local events in cities including gun crime ridden urban neighborhoods, towns, villages, and suburbs.   If there is a War on Guns it was a broad front offensive against the NRA, gun manufactures and importers, and bought-and-paid-for politicians.   And the local skirmish in McHenry County played out along a stretch o...

Just recently, I lost a significant person in my life. Even though we were not related, nor were we very close friends, he was no less consequential in my life. On June 1st in Tulsa, Oklahoma we lost a brilliant and excellent surgeon in the person of Dr. Preston Phillips. The post Grieving for Tulsa’s Loss appeared first on BeyondBelief.

    I’ve just noticed that the Episcopal Church observes today, the 13th of June, as a feast, of sorts, for Gilbert Keith Chesterton. He is perhaps best known as G. K. Chesterton, critic, biographer, novelist & Christian apologist. According to Wikipedia his “friendly enemy” George Bernard Shaw spoke of Chesterton as “a man of […]

For a very long time, I did not feel like the words I used to describe my identity had integrity with who I really was. It turned out that I needed to learn new words, and then I needed to give myself permission to describe myself in new ways. -Michael Tino (CLF) What are the … Continue reading Identity

Though Monday was officially the start of my sabbatical, I arrived in London on Friday. I have mixed feelings about being here. I am grateful for and excited about starting my sabbatical. At the same time, it seems that in the last week a number of folks in the church have come down with COVID. […]

The din had been loud inside the house, but outside, I felt like I was being buffeted by it, surrounded on all sides by argument. I felt a guilty weight in the pit of my stomach. I knew what the sound was now. I looked up and without any joy found what I expected to find. There were exactly two black crows sitting in the branches of my tree, facing my house, yelling at me. “What do you want?” I sighed. But I knew.  Continue reading Column: Hanging Garden at The Wild Hunt.

In the early days of May 2022, the U.S. experienced another mass shooting motivated by an ideology called “replacement theory.” How and when did this theory emerge? How has this idea affected persons of color? How can our awareness of this harmful ideology foster our work as compassionate humans? This talk will touch on these questions and others in an attempt to come to grips with difficult events in our history and our present moment.

I have been reviewing two soon-to-be published excerpts from my book, Wisdom of Our Hands . One will be in Quercus Magazine in the UK (also distributed in the US) and the other in  Woodworker West . Each focuses on different sections of the book.  I learned this morning that my  Wisdom of Our Hands  book is in its second printing. That's a good sign that the message within it is gaining traction. This coming week will be my last as director of the woodworking program at the Clear Spring School. And so I hope to step into a broader but continued role as an advocate for hands-on learning.  Also this coming week, my Guide to Woodworking with Kids will be back in the warehouse and ready for sales with a reprint being complete. On Saturd...

REFLECTION ON CHANGES IN ME Rev. Kit Ketcham, PRIDE 2022 Pacific UU Fellowship, June 12, 2022             Talking about sexual orientation and gender identity was a huge NoNo when I was a school counselor in Colorado back in the 80’s and 90’s.   I was so naïve that it took a long time for me to realize that there was something really wrong about that.             The change in me began when my college friend Fern came out to me after a suicide attempt.   It began to grow when I attended an in-service put on by PFLAG, an in-service designed for counselors in our district, where I saw that the president of the local chapter was the mother of two of my students.            It took another leap forward when a gutsy 9...

This was my second week on staying upright on the trails, but it has been hot this and I have really enjoyed swimming more than hiking this week. Plus, falling in water doesn’t hurt. With 3 days on the trails each week, and often 4 in our pool, life is quite good – at least […]

As we approach the Summer Solstice, let’s look at some of the ways modern Pagans celebrate this holy day.

Intensely  private Mildred and Richard Loving posed uncomfortably for the press as their case moved through the courts with intense media interest.  Note:  It’s Woodstock Pride Fest today where the LGBTQ community, family members, supporters, and the curious celebrate in McHenry County which not so many years ago was so conservative and hostile that few dared to publicly come out.  Much progress has been made over the last decades including the final victory for Marriage Equality in Illinois a few years ago.  But there are storm clouds on the horizon.  Transgender and genderfluid youth who came out boldly at the first Pride Fest in 2019 find themselves increasingly targeted by proposed legislation demanding school restrooms be op...

      Emptiness: A Practical Guide for MeditatorsGUY ARMSTRONG Somerville, Mass.: Wisdom Publications, 2017. 307 pp., paper, $17.95. Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of DragonsJAMES ISHMAEL FORD Wisdom Publications, 2018. 248 pp., paper, $17.95. Reviewed by Dhananjay Joshi Of course the bird we see and hear exists. It exists, but what I […]

Please join us on Sunday (12 June 2022) at 11:00 AM for “The Light at the End of the Tunnel” — an Affirmation Sunday Service honoring our high school graduate Andrew Lawrence and a recent college graduate. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person at All … Continue reading "Affirmation Sunday All-Ages Worship (12 June 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (12 June 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. This Sunday we continue our work through the book Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. As the author says, “This is not a book you read, this is a book you do” and we … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 12 June 2022"

Please join us next Tuesday (14 June 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.

Living with integrity can bring a fulfillment that is not always available to people in a society that teaches us that we are broken or wrong. Looking back on our lives, we can witness places where we felt the fulfillment of integrity, and we can seek to recreate them as the new day begins. How … Continue reading At The End of the Day

In our new Pilgrimages series, TWH's editor-in-chief, Manny Tejeda-Moreno, explores the famous Temple of Diana Nemorensis in Nemi, Italy. Continue reading Pilgrimages: a visit to the Temple of Diana at The Wild Hunt.

In the 2003-2004 school year, I drove to work every day from Oakland to Kensington along Grizzly Peaks Boulevard. The road winds through the Berkely Hills, rising to almost 1,500 feet above the level of San Francisco Bay, just a few miles away. That commute had the most spectacular views of any commute I’ve ever … Continue reading "View from Grizzly Peaks"

We’re getting ready to move to Massachusetts, some 3,150 miles away (give or take a couple of hundred miles). Right now, we’re packing all our belongings into four moving containers that are approximately 8 feet deep, 5 feet wide, and 7 feet high, or 1120 cubic feet. When we moved to California in 2009, we … Continue reading "Moving by the numbers"

  Photo by Chungkuk Bae on Unsplash Within our hands we hold the resurrection of the world. Transient and imperfect, these blossoms are still gifts of infinite value. Like ourselves.   ~ Thomas Rhodes Sunday, June 12, 10:30 a.m. Flower Communion Joint Worship Service at UUCSW   This Sunday, June 12, the Circle RE congregations are joining together for   [ … ] The post Sunday, June 12 ~ Flower Communion at UUCSW appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

With just a bit of help from a friend David Heim, who wrote a great book about SketchUp, I managed to made a 3D model of the Brusso JT-101 hinge. It's one I need to finish a box model for an article I'm proposing, and it feels great to be getting better at using the SketchUp 3D modeling program as it will allow me to better prepare for publishing a few extra box designs.  My big challenge that I had to ask David about was how to develop chamfers in the holes where the screws fit. He did them for me in one leaf and fortunately left the other for me to do with his instructions. So, now I can do them myself! You can find David's book on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/SketchUp-Success-Woodworkers-Drawings-Accurately/dp/1950934063/ Mak...

Memorial crosses for the dead outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Note —Today nation-wide March for Our Lives events will be held in Washington, D.C., major cities like Chicago, and in hundreds of smaller communities including a McHenry County vigil on Route 14 in Crystal Lake from 1 to 3 pm.  The student-led gun control advocacy group founded by Parkland school shooting survivors called the actions in response to the latest school shooting horror—the murder of 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 27. When I read a stunning but gut wrenching poem attributed to a “Uvalde Mom” I was suspicious that it was, in fact written by such a grief stricken mother so soon after the massa...

Yesterday I finished a five day box making class at ESSA with 9 students. This was my first full class since the start of the Covid pandemic and it was good to have a class again at the full capacity. Students each made three or more  boxes during the five days, and each learned a lot. I am grateful to have made new friends. Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

          So, there I was minding my own business poking through Youtube’s algorithmic determined offerings, when up popped up a delightfully funny, and informative, clip from “Lutheran Satire.” The clip, “St Patrick’s Bad Analogies,” is a worthy romp through the deal of the Christian trinity, while making mild fun of the […]

Please join us on Saturday (11 June 2022) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes. This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching. The group is free and open to all. For more information, contact Larry … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (11 June 2022)"

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 a member of the congregation, Jerry, chose to read for us chapter 8 of the Book of Amos. As he intimated, progressive, liberal religious traditions have inherited some important ideas from Amos, such as the belief that religious sacrifices could never atone for bad deeds, and that the only genuine service of God was not to be found, not in public displays of religion, but only in acts of justice and righteousness. This basic stance was, of course, something shared by the other 8th-century prophetic writers, Isaia...

This is yesterday’s. A lovely habit has developed in which I draw at night, in my room, while my daughter reads to me. By the time the drawing is done and she’s too tired to read any more, I don’t want to disturb the peaceful feeling by getting my phone and taking the picture. So […]

In the 1930s, when “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” was released, children learned of a jolly bearded gift-bearing man who “knows when you are sleeping and knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!” If integrity is what you do when you think no … Continue reading Be Good For Goodness Sake

Here is what I know about Robin Goodfellow, the Puck, the mythic figure that influenced Shakespeare’s work. He’s old - old enough that records in the 1500s talk about working with him as a practice that was already fading, only remembered by grandmothers. He’s famous - famous enough that, in one old text, some of the good folk in England are referred to as plural, "robingoodfellowes." He’s complicated. He’s a household name. All of this is true - and yet  I have only found a handful of Pagans practicing today who work with him. Continue reading Column: Merry Wanderer at The Wild Hunt.

During General Assembly 2022 — the annual gathering of the Unitarian Universalist Association — Side With Love will have a range of programming and activities for participants in person in Portland, OR as well as online! Unless otherwise noted, all events and activities are open to the public. Side With Love Networking Room Join us in-person in Portland at our networking space in the Willamette 1 at the Hyatt Regency (across the street from the convention center). The space will be open to anyone registered for GA during these times: Wednesday: 12pm - 1:30pm PT Thursday - Sunday: 9am - 1:30pm PT Come by to get your #JusticeBingo card, find spiritual respite at our altar space, make signs for Friday’s public witness, write letters t...

      Dr Robert Smith took his last drink today, the 10th of June, in 1935. Alcoholics Anonymous, which was organized by Dr Bob and Bill Wilson, dates its creation from this moment. So, happy Eighty-seventh birthday, AA! Using principles first adapted from the Oxford Group and over time evolved into its own thing, […]

Elizabeth J. Andrew Words come alive when we claim what is sacred.

The streets call activists and lovers of justice and inclusion this weekend in McHenry County.  On Saturday there will be a local opportunity to participate in nation-wide March for Our Lives demonstrations.  All weekend Woodstock Pride has a full schedule of events culminating with the Pride Fest and the Pride Parade in Woodstock. Hundreds crowded Woodstock Square for the first local March for Our Lives event following the mass school shooting in Parkland Florida.  It was a raw March day in 2018.  Seen above is part of the the Tree of Life U.U. Congregation contingent.  March for Our Lives, the student-led gun control advocacy group founded by Parkland school shooting survivors, is planning nationwide protests on Saturday June 11 i...

Cambridge Unitarian Church contingent at OccupyLSX 2011 Recently I joined and subscribed to something called “The Radical Theology Seminar” (you can take a peek at this excellent project at this link). I recommend it highly.  Anyway, in a very insightful piece on the place of the riot in Radical Theology, Justin Leavitt Pearl noted that there was an overlap with the day of Pentecost and in connection with this thought he cited some words spoken by the philosopher Slavoj Žižek whilst addressing Occupy Wall Street protesters at Zuccotti Park in 2011 which I’d like to reproduce here, along with an additional, connected, quote from a 2007 lecture called “A Meditation on Michelangelo’s Christ on the Cross.” The reason for doing...

ILLUSION NUMBER ONE, PART ONE:Report from Planet Three©Dr. Chris Schriner 2022 I have not been on this site for a while, but I now may have time to begin posting occasionally – perhaps even regularly. Here is a talk I … Continue reading →

Prayer for the Week of June 12, 2022 Heart of Love grant us all the beauty bestowed to those who are tender-hearted, who are kind past easy and compassionate past bravery. Let us all be so beautiful. Heart of Love grant us all the beauty bestowed to those who speak...

I fell in adolescent lust for Judy Garland in her post-War Technicolor MGM musicals like Meet Me in St. Louis and never got over it. In the 1996 flick My Fellow Americans —which by the way seems downright prescient—two former Presidents and bitter political enemies were forced to go on the lam together when they were framed for the attempted assassination of the current occupant of the Oval Office.  James Garner channeled Bill Clinton and Jack Lemon stood in for George Bush the elder.  As they tried to uncover a sinister plot against Democracy in the heart of the White House they found themselves marching in a Gay Pride Parade to ditch the FBI agents tracking them down.  Naturally they ended up in a contingent of cross-dressing Ju...

“Let the life I live speak for me.” -African-American Spiritual, as made famous by Sullivan and Iola Pugh (The Consolers) What does your life say to others?

The remains of a stone circle dating to between 3,000 and 2,500 BCE has been discovered in Cornwall, England. Continue reading Stone circle site discovered in Cornwall at The Wild Hunt.

By Christian Coleman | Take a breath. The end of May and the start of June have been brutal. Ten Black citizens died in the white supremacist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. Nineteen children and two teachers died in the Uvalde, Texas, elementary mass shooting. And despite the pandemic that has become a smoldering backdrop, the shootings have not stopped. We are already up to 233 this year. It’s . . . a lot. So much grief.

On Sunday, May 22, I shared my thoughts after reading Susan Cain’s book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make us Whole. You can view the sermon here (fast forward to 1:11:23–sermon is really on 16 minutes or so), but it may be easier to read it so the text is below. Please note this was … Continue reading Bittersweet: A sermon inspired by Susan Cain’s Book on Melancholy

If I’d known how to identify this tree, I probably would have done so many times during our recent trip to southwestern Utah. It is found there and around the Grand Canyon, as well as central California. My daughter expressed a hope that I would become a mom who can identify lots of trees when […]

  The Rev. Sean Parker Dennison, then minister of the Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry, introducing the marriage ceremony to a packed sanctuary. Note — Not only is it LGBTQ Pride Month which is observed here in McHenry County by Woodstock Pride Fest, but it also marks an Illinois milestone victory for Marriage Equality and a joyful, pioneering wedding ceremony at Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry.   We dip into the blog archives for this report posted the day after the big event. Triumphant.   It can be a word with unpleasant overtones.   Kind of an I-win-you-lose-stick-it-where-the-sun-don’t-shine gloat.   But I don’t mean it that way.   I don’t want to stick my thumb in...

UUSC visits Pacific islands to develop new ways of addressing the climate crisis

When I think of integrity, there is another word that closely flows behind which is accountability. If a process, a person or an object has integrity, we believe there is a solid foundation, a reliability that can be rested upon.  Do the spaces in which we move have integrity? -Lecretia Williams (CLF) How do you … Continue reading Accountability

Remember when I described the beauty of seeing a goldfinch climb over a dandelion stem to get the seeds? But I didn’t get a picture then? A little magic happened again, and this time I was able to get this photo from our deck. The more wild and plant-filled our yard has been, the more […]

The initial finds of the excavations of the ancient Mitanni Empire city of Zakhiku that was revealed due to the drought in Iraq in 2021. Continue reading Mitanni City emerges from the Mosul Reservoir at The Wild Hunt.

One of the loudest voices against any Unitarian Universalist attempt to overcome embedded White supremacy culture is a group calling itself the Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council, usually shortened to UUMUAC. UUMUAC was founded several years ago by one Finley Campbell a member of Chicago’s First Unitarian Church. He was long its mainspokesman, and […] The post What Does the UUMUAC Believe? appeared first on Dennis McCarty.

From Ursula K. LeGuin, from her science fiction novel The Left Hand of Darkness: “To be an atheist is to maintain God. His [sic] existence or his non-existence, it amounts to much the same, on the plane of proof. Thus ‘proof’ is a word not often used among the Handarata, who have chosen not to … Continue reading "Quoted without comment"

Mathew P. Taylor Guided by faith that this too will pass / We can survive this because our ancestors survived

Laura Solomon To be queer is to know the ways of holding all that shimmers to the light. Continue reading "All That Shimmers"

                                                       The suitably lurid American mass market paperback edition. On June 8, 1949 George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel of totalitarianism triumphant Nineteen Eighty- — usually called simply 1984 —  published in London . Eric Arthur Blair a/k/a Orwell was at the time a 45 year old English writer who had been born to a civil servant in India.  After a largely unhappy public school education back home—a private, residential academy to Americans—he returned to the orient as a policeman in Burma.  He was an outsider among his British colleagues there, preferring to explore the country, learn the language and culture.  He was soon sympathetic to t...

I wish I could say things will be better after an election or two, but I can’t. What I can say is that as oppression increases, so does witchcraft. We will cast better spells. We will tell better stories. And we will make them true.

An invisible singleleaf ash leaf, because I hate the way it came out: stiff and amateurish, to my eye. But I drew. Drawing is good. Process over product.

Integrity: Firm adherence. When I look at the words firm adherence, I think of my Dad, whose life was filled with FIRM adherence. When the cashier gave Dad too much change after a transaction, Dad would turn it into a math lesson, and explain that they had given him too much, and he would return … Continue reading Firm Adherence

Taken with a Fujifilm X100F Just click on the photo to enlarge it   One of my favourite short trips out of Cambridge is to Fleam Dyke via Fulbourn Fen. I generally cycle to the Fen, lock the bicycle up, then walk through the woods, up onto the Anglo-Saxon dyke and then on to the bronze-age burial mound on Mutlow Hill where I’ll stop for a sandwich and a flask of tea. I generally take a book with me too and, in summer anyway, I can easily while away a couple of pleasant hours in the shade of the large beech tree which stands hard by the barrow. Liminal places like this, where there is a powerful, living connection between ancient and modern peoples, landscapes and worlds, endlessly draw me to them. The dyke is very upstanding for much ...

Our world's oceans are our most precious resource.

Save the Date: Summer Stars! K-6 Summer Religious Education will be led by some of our favorite stars! We’ll meet in Waters House, 10:30-11:30, Sundays: 7/10, 7/17, 7/24 & 7/31! Want to help out? Contact Dir. of Lifespan Religious Education Robin Ahearn at dlre@uuschenectady.org K/1st/2nd Grade OWL had their final meeting ... read more . The post RE News appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

We follow up on yesterday's story. Last week, English Heritage projected images of the Queen onto some of the stones at Stonehenge. Pagans in the U.K. and others shared their opinions on the spectacle. Continue reading Pagans react to the projection of the Queen’s image at Stonehenge at The Wild Hunt.

Join in a discussion of Imbolo Mbue’s book How Beautiful We Were. Whether you have participated in the BIPOC Authors discussion group before, or this is your first time, you are welcome! The discussion will be held on Zoom on Tuesday evening, June 28th, beginning ... read more . The post June Book Discussion: How Beautiful We Were, by Imbolo Mbue appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

By Philip C. Winslow | Shortly after a teenage gunman murdered seventeen people and wounded seventeen others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, I thought back over some American history and my own familiarity with guns, and wrote here on Beacon Broadside that “In 1970, historian Richard Hofstadter popularized the term ‘gun culture’ in writing about how Americans’ resolute possession of firearms dated back to colonial days, when farmer-settlers lived on a wild frontier . . .

“Schenectady’s Leading Ladies: A Tour with the Schenectady County Historical Society”—June 16, 5pm (followed by a “bring your own bag supper and chair” behind the Historical Society building) Tour: “Through the first three centuries of Schenectady’s past, gender roles often hid women from historical memory. However, a ... read more . The post Evening Branch of the Women’s Alliance June Program (in person) appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

                  In 2017 Jan and I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days in Manhattan. We took advantage of proximity to have breakfast at the Algonquin, sitting not far from the round table itself, under a portrait of Dorothy Parker and many of the rest […]

As the church year begins to conclude, we are reflecting on what has transpired both in and beyond the congregation. We are noticing just how weary so many people are and are wondering how we might create a global sabbath or a ‘call in well’ ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – June 7th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The summer weather is here, blossoms are on trees and in gardens, in parks and at weddings and graduations. What is blooming in you? What could bloom if you gave it a little water, sun, nourishment? The post Monthly Theme for June – Blooming appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

After the worship service this Sunday, June 12, let’s enjoy this season’s opportunity to socialize outdoors together! Bring a picnic lunch for yourself/your household and hang out in the UUSS backyard gardens, in front by the fountains, or at the brand new picnic tables on ... read more . The post Socialize after the Sunday Service at the BYOP! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Last month, I had the great privilege of delivering the baccalaureate address for the class of 2022 at Amherst College.  This was such an honor and I am incredibly grateful to Harrison Blum and the whole office of Religious and Spiritual Life for their support in making this happen. You can find audio of the […]

Photo by Harold Rail. My good friend Harold Rail, photographer and videographer extraordinary, posted the image above on his Facebook page in June 2017.   I was stunned.   Not only was it in some sad ways reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks , but it spoke loudly to me about the world we now live in. Many Chicagoans will recognize the scene—the glassed-in waiting area on the platform of the Metra commuter station serving the North and Northwest suburbs.   That platform and the train sheds are all that is left of what was once the Chicago & Northwestern Station .   The rest of the once imposing limestone structure was razed in 1984 and replaced with the glass-and-steel 42-story Citicorp Center completed there in 1987.   The ...

A fundamental understanding of freedom in this society includes the idea of bodily integrity for each person: the right to personal autonomy, self-ownership, and self-determination. Even though this would seem self-evident, there are people who do not yet enjoy this freedom and those who face the possibility of losing it. -Lori Stone (CLF) Let us … Continue reading Bodily Integrity