Susanna and I spent a lovely morning and early afternoon in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden and, for your enjoyment, I include here a few photographs.  Just click on a photo to enlarge it All were taken with a Fuji X100V and are straight out of camera jpegs

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, announcements of rituals and events, as well as crossings of the Veil. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of November 1, 2021 at The Wild Hunt.

Prayer beads serve as a focus for meditation. Much more than a mnemonic aid to prayer, prayer beads engage the senses to create a state of mindfulness. Find something to hold onto today, the touch of which helps remind you to return to your center.

    Mu: A Love Letter Tom Wardle Empty Moon Zen The Gateless Gate, Case One: Zhaozhou’s Dog A student of the way asked Zhaozhou (Joshu), “Has the dog Buddha nature or not?”Zhaozhou said, “Mu.” The Verse  Dog, Buddha nature—The full presentation of the whole;With a bit of “has” or “has not”Body is lost, life […]

I had plans to do something magical, spiritual, religious, and very important to me – and I had to postpone it. This was a hard thing for me to do.

The IWW relied on street meetings like this one in New York state to organize workers.  When Spokane, Washington authorities tried to shut them down in 1909 they sparked a legendary Free Speech Fight. I didn’t start out to be probably the greatest landmark battle for free speech and free assembly in Americanhistory.   It grew out of the practical, if militant concerns of a labor union trying to establish itselfin an all important local industry—the lumber trade of the Pacific Northwest. But on November 2, 1909 the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) launched a Free Speech Fight in the streets of Spokane , Washington.   Before the first day was out 103 workers trying to mount a literal wooden soap box on Stevens Street had been h...

Joe Manchin is doing everything he can to undermine effective legislation to address the climate crisis and stop any sort of expansion of the social safety net. Like a lot of people, I have been feeling a lot of anger and despair over his power to dictate the Democratic Party’s legislative agenda at a time […]

The last time I did a major update of my main website was around 2009. It was looking pretty old and creaky. So I did a complete redesign, and it’s now responsive and html5 compliant. On the content side, I added some significant new content, including an essay on change management in congregations. I did … Continue reading "Website update"

Charles Chauncy Charles Chauncy served the prominent First Church of Boston for 60 years: 35 as assistant minister and another 25 as senior minister. His support of the American Revolution in sermons and pamphlets led him to be called "theologian of the American Revolution". Born into the elite Puritan merchant class that ruled Boston, Chauncy came to oppose the Great Awakening and spoke out against religious enthusiasm stirred up by revival preachers. 1. Despite his Puritan heritage, Chauncy rejected Calvin’s doctrine of total depravity, and argued that human beings have God-given "natural powers" that were meant to be nurtured toward "an actual likeness to God in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness". 2. Chauncy and other more...

Charles Chauncy, Universalist, and Jonathan Mayhew, Unitarian Charles Chauncy rejected such Calvinist doctrines as total depravity and predestination. Chauncy was also a universalist. Chauncy completed his major theological work, The Mystery Hid from Ages and Generations , in 1765, but for 20 years could not bring himself to publish it. Finally, late in life, anonymously, he published his book: 400 pages of biblical support for universal salvation, that God wills and ensures the salvation of all humanity. Charles Chauncy is understood by most scholars to have had an Arian Christology. Quick review of Christology. In the first three centuries after Jesus’ death, Christian churches understood Jesus in a variety of ways. In particular, th...

King's Chapel and James Freeman, part 1 Remember Thomas Emlyn? Emlyn was featured in episodes 42 and 43. He was the first British preacher to definitely describe himself with the word Unitarian. Years after his death, reprints of Emlyn’s book, “An Humble Inquiry into the Scripture Account of Jesus Christ” made their way to America’s shores where they aided and abetted the growing liberalism. In 1757, a group of New Hampshire churches, influenced by Emlyn’s arguments, revised their catechism to delete all references to the trinity. Then an Episcopal Congregation – the oldest Episcopal Congregation in New England – went Unitarian. King’s Chapel in Boston had been established in 1686 as an Anglican Church. In 1782, facing a ...

King's Chapel and James Freeman, part 2 The Anglican/Episcopalian congregation, King’s Chapel, in Boston, faced a clergy shortage after American independence, so, in 1782, they called congregationalist James Freeman, then 23 years old and fresh out of Harvard. Under Freeman’s influence the congregation revised their Book of Common Prayer to delete references to the Trinity. When the congregation sought to have Freeman ordained, however, the Anglican bishops refused. King’s Chapel chose to take a page from the polity of their neighboring congregationalist churches, and, in 1787, ordained James Freeman themselves – a power which, under congregational polity, is in the hands of congregations, not of bishops or church hierarchy. King...

Today is Election Day - another chance for us to live into our deep beliefs about the power of the democratic process to create a world in which all people are free and thriving.    Voting is a collective act of discernment and imagination. When we cast our ballots for candidates that reflect our values and laws and ordinances that move us closer to the world we want to live in, we are taking sacred action together. So please--if you have the ability to vote, make sure you get to the polls today. (And if you don’t know how to find your polling place, click here .)    As both early voting and today’s ballots are counted in municipal and state elections around the country, our communities will be directly shaping the future of our ...

A Texas statehouse representative seeks the removal of over 800 books from public school libraries in his state. Continue reading Texas lawmaker investigates 850 books he says makes students uncomfortable at The Wild Hunt.

Having my experience centered feels like my community is actively acknowledging my potential. What is your experience of being centered by others? What is your experience of being marginalized? How can you center others today?

Note — Just five years ago yesterday as the U.S. was about to slide into disaster, the thrilling victory of the Chicago Cubs in the World Series ending a 108 year drought lifted my heart and generations of the most faithful fans in baseball.  Since then, were have endured tough times and this past season a promising team stacked by beloved players, most of them veterans of the 2016 triumph sputtered out mid-season and were dealt away in a fire sale.  Heart breaking.  But there were glimmers of hope among the replacements and Cubs fans are every ready to hope for next year.  This is the blog entry I posted the morning of the day after the game. The morning after everything changed.  Barrels of ink have already been spilled.  More ...

    Today, the 3rd of November, the Anglican communion honors Richard Hooker, priest and theologian in its calendar of feasts. He was a central figure in the establishment of Anglicanism as a via media, a middle way between Catholicism and Protestantism. Hooker was also a beautiful writer. He articulated a “threefold cord not quickly […]

Shaya French If this year is a "lost" year, then I am bound to live a lost life. Continue reading "Not Lost, Just Different"

A friend sent me an interesting link to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guidonian_hand on the Guidonian Hand. Used in Medieval music, the Guidonian hand was a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight-sing. From Wikipedia: "Some form of the device may have been used by Guido of Arezzo, a medieval music theorist who wrote a number of treatises, including one instructing singers in sightreading. The hand occurs in some manuscripts before Guido's time as a tool to find the semitone; it does not have the depicted form until the 12th century." Most of us have heard of the idea of tying a string around a finger to help us to remember something we might forget. The Guidonian Hand suggests the potential for our hands ...

The colorful fishing port of Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland has lots of pubs to lure lovers of Irish music . My wife Kathy, the luckiest human on Earth, won a trip to Irelandat a drawing last week during Irish Books, Arts & Music (IBAM) festival at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago! Previously she has won $30,000 on a lottery scratch off a few years ago, a big flat screen TV, a quality original oil painting, innumerable rafflesand 50-50 drawings.  And she stays ahead playing scratch offs spending no more than 20 or 30 a week.  I win jack shit.  Our sea-side "cottage" is much larger and more modern that the Murfin Estate stateside. This time the prize was a week at a “cottage” on the sea just outside of Dingle—a beauti...

Elaine McArdle People v. Fossil Fuels Demands Biden Stop New Projects

I am a college student, but more urgently, I am a young Unitarian Universalist working to save my future.

Your questions answered about the 26th annual UN Conference of the Parties

Two Witches have embarked on a new journey in publishing to provide a platform that seeks to improve access for minority and under-served writing communities. Continue reading New Witch-owned publishing company focuses on underrepresented voices at The Wild Hunt.

By Christian Coleman | You know who ranks supreme on our list of national treasures? Poet, educator, and activist Sonia Sanchez! Know this if you haven’t known it already. Ms. Sanchez has just won another lifetime achievement award, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. Two years ago, she won the Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Award. The Gish Prize is given each year to “a highly accomplished artist from any discipline who has pushed the boundaries of an art form, contributed to social change, and paved the way for the next generation.” This has Ms. Sanchez written all over it.

The Hudson Mohawk Cluster of UU Congregations will host its second annual online, multigenerational, multi-congregational Trivia Night at Friday, January 7th, from 7-8:30pm. Back by popular demand will be the music round of “name that UU hymn,” and a photo round. New this year, a trivia preparation ... read more . The post Save the Date! – January 7th Multigenerational Trivia Night appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Speaker: BJ Rosenfeld, award-winning author and internationally recognized family relationship coach Even the best communicators can benefit from improving their communications skills. Before BJ Rosenfeld discovered the secret to staying connected, she almost lost all connection with her adult son. Through trial and error, she found the strategies ... read more . The post EBWA Program – November 18th, “Communication for Unshakeable Relationships” appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Upcoming RE Classes: Remember to turn your clocks back Saturday night! K-6 Experiences with the Web of Life: These nature lovers will meet again this Sunday morning, 11/7, from 9:30-10:15. Read All About It! Check out Thank You, Earth, by April Pulley Sayre. Winner of the Green Prize for Sustainable Literature. This ... read more . The post RE This Week – Nov. 2nd appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Dear UUSS~ It is a beautiful and chilly November day…. and the large maple tree that we can see from our office has turned from green to bright yellow in the past week. We hope that there is beauty in your day, as well. Big thanks ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Nov. 2nd appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Our words can be used to heal and to harm. We might intend one outcome and yet the impact is something else. For election season and as we may start gathering with family over the holidays, we may feel a large chasm between what we ... read more . The post November Theme – Building Bridges appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

When I feel off kilter, I use breathing to center myself. I take intentional breaths, slow breaths, deep breaths to regroup and recenter. Take a few, slow, intentional breaths–as deep as your body will allow you to breathe comfortably. Notice how your body responds to those breaths. Make time for breathing today.

    In 1904 George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon and an enthusiastic Egyptologist employed the archeologist Howard Carter to supervise a major excavation in Thebes. They proved an able team. In 1914 the earl received the concession to excavate the Valley of the Kings. The war disrupted their work. But not even counting this disruption […]

Some are called by the Gods. Some are claimed. Some are deluding themselves. The existence of the third group in no way refutes the reality of the first two. It simply reminds us of the necessity for discernment, deeper thinking, and more nuanced discourse.

  A popular image of Guy Fawkes assembling barrels of gun power for his plot against Parliament and King James I.   Tonight is Bonfire Night across the Puddle,traditionally a rowdy celebration of the day Guy Fawkes got caught trying to blow upParliament on November 5, 1605.  Originally celebrated on the first anniversary as an official Thanksgiving Day for delivering the King and Parliament from the Catholic plotters, it became an annual official holiday until that statuswas finally dropped in 1859 because of the virulent anti-Catholic toneof the celebration.  Traditionally effigies of Fawkes were burned on bonfires.  Later fireworks also became popular along with considerable public revelry and occasional outbreaks of vandalismai...

We know what's wrong with education in America, but what are we willing to fix? The answer, of course, is "Not much." “The division into subjects and periods encourages a segmented rather than an integrated view of knowledge. Consequently, what students are asked to relate to in schooling becomes increasingly artificial, cut off from the human experiences subject matter is supposed to reflect.” (John Goodlad, A Place Called School, McGraw-Hill, 1984, p.266) It should  be noted that kids are not as dumb as typical schooling assumes they might be. They are not empty vessels ready to fill with whatever beliefs and facts we can pour into them. Instead, because they are smart, they realize the differences between what we try to cram in a...

Playing this game with myself again. I drew 100 rectangles on a page of my notebook, dated them, and because I hate to leave a blank spot, will now feel a little self-imposed pressure to do art every single day for the next 100 days. This is known as channeling my compulsive tendencies for a […]

  There are many Festivals of Light celebrated by religions and cultures around the world including Christmas, Chanukah, and Winter Solstice observances familiar in the West.   But none are more colorful or enjoyed with such gleeful abandon a Diwali, the Hindu festival of the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.   In most of the Northern Hemisphere the five day holiday began this year on November 4, although some Indian states and Hindu diaspora communities start on November 5.   In the Southern Hemisphere it is observed in the Spring. During the celebration, temples, homes, shops, and work places are brightly illuminated.   In most of India the climax of the festival occurs on the third day ...

This year's Parliament of the World's Religions with Phyllis Curott as the program chair was particularly historic for modern Witches and Pagans. Continue reading Historic Parliament of World’s Religions at The Wild Hunt.

This Sunday (7 November 2021) at 11:00 AM, All Souls will have our first in-person worship in the sanctuary since  March 2020. We are asking for your cooperation. Masks are required of all attendees (age 4 and up) when we are indoors.  Children younger than age 4 are encouraged to wear masks if they are … Continue reading "Worship in Person Resumes This Sunday (7 November 2021)"

Sunday, November 7, 10:30 a.m. In My Day: Reflections on the Way Things Used to Be Returning to our Sanctuary for a multigenerational service with Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann   What was life like before computers, cell phones, FaceBook, or Instagram? What changed in your life with the sexual revolution, the civil rights movement, the events of   [ … ] The post *IN PERSON* Sunday, November 7 ~ In My Day: Reflections on the Way Things Used to Be ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

When centering myself I work to connect to the natural world around me using different senses as anchor points. What is a place in the natural world that makes you feel connected?

    The Gateless Barrier (sometimes Gateless Gate) (無門關 Wúménguān; Japanese: 無門関 Mumonkan) was first published on this day, the 5th of November, in 1228. And with that seven hundred and ninety-three years of admonition, invitation, and general all around Zen hilarity ensues… The Gateless Barrier is an anthology of forty-eight koans, those brief and […]

A Rutgers student later painted this imagined view of the first official college football game. According to historians of American sports the first official college football season got underway on November 6, 1869 when teams from Rutgers College, now Rutgers University, and the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, got together on the Rutgers campus for a rough and tumble game of football which was sanctionedand approved by both colleges.   It was a short season.   The next game was played by the same teams at Princeton one week later.   Season over.   Just two teams and two games. The Queensmen of Rutgers won the first game by a score of 6-4 but the New Jersey Tigers came back in the re-matchto win 8-0.   The anal reten...

Yesterday I had an interview with Ozark Public Broadcasting for their program OzarksWatch. It was great to be able to share our wonderful Eureka Springs School of the Arts as the location for the broadcast which will air in February or March. Shown in the photo are host Dr. Jim Baker, and producers Jason Ferber and Brent Slane. Either Jason or Brent will return in December to take video of my box making class in action. I hope this increases awareness of our great school. ESSA-art.org Make, fix and create...

Someone said that the New Moon in Scorpio has an energy for revealing secrets. During yesterday’s New Moon, a secret emerged in my search for my ancestor Marie Madeleine. I found a marriage record for Anastasie Matshiskueuit, with parents listed as Jean Pierre Utshinitsiu and the deceased Veronique Kaskaneshtshish. These last two were listed as […]

Sometimes when I’m talking to someone who has just been through a major life disaster, they will say, “Well, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’ right?” They find it comforting to think that life will turn out all right in the end. When I’m doing pastoral counseling, my job is mostly to listen, and … Continue reading "What doesn’t kill you…."

Lyonel Perabo's daily walk to his child's kindergarten takes him through his hometown's cemetery, a place to reflect on history and what has been passed down to us. Continue reading Column: Wisdom from the Graves at The Wild Hunt.

I invite you to join us on Saturday November 6 for a Open House at the glass and iron studio of Suzanne Reed. I'll be selling books and boxes. The address is 1242 CR 102 and the time from 1 to 4 PM. Make, fix and create...

Part Four of a history I’m writing, telling the story of Unitarians in Palo Alto from the founding of the town in 1891 up to the dissolution of the old Unitarian Church of Palo Alto in 1934. If you want the footnotes, you’ll have to wait until the print version of this history comes out … Continue reading "Unitarians in Palo Alto, 1915-1920"

Please join us on Saturday (6 November 2021) from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM for our monthly building and grounds work day. Join us as we get our church home — inside and out — ready for reopening.

Please join us on Saturday (6 November 2021) 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 (6 November 2021)"

As a performing musician, it is important for me to block out all that is going on in a room so that my only thoughts are listening, seeing and hearing the music. It has taken me years to not register the sneeze, people talking, or a door opening. Centering for me is intense concentration. How … Continue reading Concentration

    I’m currently reflecting on the nature of the spiritual life. This pushes me into a consideration of whether there is a common thread to religions, or whether its a bunch of wildly different religions, each contending to be the only true The smart money seems to be that its all chaos. But, I […]

Satan in his Original Glory: Thou wast Perfect till Iniquity was Found in Thee William Blake, c.1805 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— I was interested to read that last year in the UK a total of 15 babies were named “Lucifer.”  In one sense I’m not vexed or offended by this because, as any passably competent student of Jewish and Christian texts has long known, the name “Lucifer” simply means “light-bringer” and for millennia it has been used as the name of the planet Venus in its morning aspect because its rising preceded the welcome rising of th...

Almost everyone in America will revel in an extra hour of sleep tomorrow morning.  It happens every year, no matter how many announcementsare made on the TV news, radio, newspapers, and now by cute Facebook memes.  And some folks who did fiddle with their time pieces get it wrong—is it spring forward, fall back or the other way around? Anyway, here is a heads up to set your clocks back tonight before you got to bed.  Or if you are a stickler for accuracy wait until 2 am Sunday to set them back to 1 am. It’s vexing.  And some think, foolish.  Take to oft quoted bit of folk wisdom usually ascribed to some Native American sage—Daylight Savings Time is like cutting a strip off the bottom of the blanket and sewing it to the top and...

The Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC) of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is making a big step towards transparency. According to an email I just received, the MFC will publish a list of all ministers who have been removed from fellowship: “In the past, the UUA relied on the UU World Magazine’s Milestones section as the … Continue reading "Transparency, part three"

Please join us next Wednesday (10 November 2021) 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.

Melissa Lewis will be at the church parking lot this Sunday afternoon (7 November 2021) from 2:00 to 4:00 PM to collect food and other items for the Noel United Methodist Church Food Pantry. Items requested this month are peanut butter, cranberry sauce, and canned sweet potatoes.

During the pandemic, we have chosen the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank as our give-away-the-plate recipient a couple of times already. With unemployment and other COVID-related relief benefits running out and the holidays fast approaching, we don’t want to see anyone go hungry in our area. And the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank supplies our two other … Continue reading "Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana — November 2021 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

Families — we hear you and realize how done you are with Zoom. First, thanks to everyone who made last weekend’s Trunk or Treat celebration such a fun time for our children and everyone else. We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers.  We feel encouraged by the cooling weather and the possibility of … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Updates"

Please join us on Sunday (7 November 2021) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. We are discussing episodes of the podcast Learning How to See with Rev. Brian McLaren, Father Richard Rohr, and Rev. Jacqui Lewis. They are discussing the 13 kinds of bias that Rev. Barbara mentioned recently in … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 7 November 2021"

Please join us on Sunday (7 November 2021) at 11:00 AM for “What Does it Mean to Be Together?” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here. And . . .  we will be also meeting in the sanctuary for the first time since March 2020. We have some special rules … Continue reading "Online All-Ages Worship (7 November 2021)"

Please join us on Sunday (7 November 2021) at 11:00 AM for “What Does it Mean to Be Together?” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here. And . . .  we will be also meeting in the sanctuary for the first time since March 2020. We have some special rules … Continue reading "In-Person and Online All-Ages Worship (7 November 2021)"

Prayer beads serve as reminders of prayer and help keep track of prayers. What reminds you to center yourself throughout the day?

The true value of a relationship is the relationship itself, not any material benefits it may bring. These are nine things that my ancestors tell me when I’m standing in front of my ancestor shrine or otherwise communing with them.

                         Elijah P. Lovejoy shortly before his death. He was by almost all accounts, a difficult man to like.  Opinionated to the point of bigotry on innumerable subjects.  A totally humorless religious zealotconsumed with the conviction of his own righteousness—and the sinfulness of just about anyone who did not agree with him on everything, down to the comma placement.  But such men—and women—often are what is needed to begin moving the fulcrum of history.  When Elijah P. Lovejoy was cut down in a hail of bullets defendinghis precious printing press from an Alton, Illinois mob on November 7, 1837 he became the first important martyr of abolitionism and helped galvanize the infant movement. Lovejo...

    Recently I read of a Mexican approach to death with its three stages. I looked it up. It goes: 1) we die. 2) we’re buried, and 3) we’re forgotten. However, the version I read added in a wrinkle, 1) we realize we will die, 2) we die, 3) we are forgotten. I suspect […]

Rex Nelson is one of Arkansas most highly respected journalists. There is a great editorial in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, resulting from the day Rex and I spent in Eureka Springs, with me having the honor of serving as his guide to the Clear Spring School and our Eureka Springs School of the Arts. The article can be found here:  https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/nov/07/city-of-the-arts/ Next week's paper will likely have a column about the Clear Spring School. Watch for it. Make, fix and create...

My weight went up almost 2 pounds this week. Shocking in some ways, but totally predictable in others. We went down to Monterey Bay this week for a mini-vacation. We did a lot of good hiking, and covered 23 miles in 3 days. We also ate out every night (which was delicious and worth it!) […]

Welcome back, Rev. John! As we celebrate a belated Ingathering, our minister celebrates his return from sabbatical with a story about big ambitions, humility, and rediscovering what is necessary.

New research from Pew shows that most surveyed societies do not see strong religious conflicts, but the United States, France, and South Korea show the highest percentages of such conflict. Continue reading Pew research says U.S., France, and Korea most divided over religion at The Wild Hunt.

When I want to re-center I often try to find a quiet place, so that I can have space to separate what are my thoughts, and what are the thoughts of others. How do you feel in a quiet space? Can you find a moment of quiet today?

A Soviet era propaganda image glorifying the October Revolution. November 7 and 8 represent one of the most important events of the 20th Century and arguably a fulcrum point history—before things were this way, after quite another.  That presents a significant challenge for a blogger who trades in history.  On one hand the October or Bolshevik Revolution on November 7, 1917—October 25 under the old Orthodox calendar is too big toignore.  On the other the tale is so epic and complex that a wordy son-of-a-bitch like me with a tendency to digress and go off on tangents to explain every detail couldn’t confine myself to a manageable post. That a problem because Americans in general know damned little about what happened beyond that ...

This week, we remember Betty Morrow and her amazing contributions as an activist for justice. Betty passed gently from this world on November 2, 2020 at the age of 94. The following is excerpted from Chacraseca: Raising Nicaragua Families Out of Poverty, originally published in February of 2018. All Souls has been involved with Nicaragua since the early 1990s after member Betty Morrow traveled there on a medical trip. There she saw, firsthand, the extreme poverty, the lack of education opportunities, and lack of work for women who often are the heads of households. Betty returned to Tulsa with an […] The post Betty Morrow’s Microcredit Banking Legacy appeared first on BeyondBelief.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Veteran's Day remembrances at Circle Sanctuary, Oak Flat altar vandalized, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of November 8, 2021 at The Wild Hunt.

During the worst of the covid pandemic when all our classes were being taught online, I made a box to allow teaching materials to be passed back and forth between home and school.  We've repurposed that box as a temporary pay what you want shop for students to sell things they've made in woodshop and gain some insight into the world of small business.  Today the kids moved inventory into the box. You can drive by and shop. It is unmanned but open 24 hours. At night you'll need to bring a flashlight. The kids are very excited about this project and I hope you'll join in to make it a success.  Select objects you want and put money in the box.  The Pay what you want shop is mounted to the railing in front of the Clear Spring School offi...

I am learning how to de-center myself, as a white person, so that more voices are heard. How do you center those with less power than you?

Divination is one skill for navigating the future. Don’t overuse it to the point you neglect other important skills. As the old saying goes, when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem start to look like a nail.

A year before the strike dockworkers loading and unloading goods--mostly bales of cotton--on a New Orleans wharf.   New Orleans was always an anomaly in the South, hell it was unique in all the United States for many reasons.   It was a cosmopolitan cityruled by the French or Spanish for most of its historyand had a part of the US for only 89 years in 1892.   Many of its inhabitants were Creole, a term which originally had simply meant Europeans born in the New World, but in New Orleans had also come to infer those of mixed racial heritage.   The city was long the home not only of slaves, but of a large, and sometimes quite prosperous, Free Black population.   Free Blacks, slaves and their descendants mixed with the European popula...

From the Chinese Zen Masters, Bodhidharma on the twofold entrance to the Tao. (1) Translated by D. T. Suzuki From the Manual of Zen Buddhism, page 73 and on There are many ways to enter the Path, but briefly speaking they are of two sorts only. The one is “Entrance by Reason” and the other “Entrance […]

A few photos taken over the last week in Cambridge, Fen Ditton and on Grantchester Meadows All photos taken with a Fuji X100V. All straight out of the camera jpegs Just click on a photo to enlarge    Christ’s Pieces, Cambridge Christ’s Pieces, Cambridge Christ’s Pieces, Cambridge Christ’s Pieces, Cambridge Christ’s Pieces, Cambridge (Unitarian Church in the middle background) Midsummer Common in the last rays of the setting sun River Cam by the Fort St. George Bridge From Ditton Meadows Grantchester Meadows Grantchester Meadows Grantchester Meadows Grantchester Meadows Grantchester Meadows Grantchester Meadows Grantchester Parish Church Grantchester Parish Church Grantchester Parish Church Grantchester Parish Church Grantches...

 A few photos from this weekend’s COP26 Coalition march in Cambridge All taken with a Fuji X100V Just click on a photo to enlarge

This morning I went to add a padlock and hinges to the cash box on the kid's pay what you want shop. I found the box cleared of all student made merchandise and even some of our shop fixtures were gone.  Not suspecting theft, I opened the cash box and found money inside. The students counted 8 dollars, seventy six pennies and 50 pesos in Mexican currency. We're counting the first day of business as a success. And in wood shop today the students made more products to sell. make, fix and create...

Night Theater author Vikram Paralkar is from India, and is an oncologist at U Penn. One review: “A one-sitting read for a dark night.” A different genre for this discussion group to explore. If you need a book, let Kat Wolfram know and she will get ... read more . The post Night Theater by Vikram Paralkar, the BIPOC Book Group Read for December appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Green Sanctuary is partnering with the Anti-Racism Team for a discussion on the film, ‘The Condor and The Eagle.’ The film is available via free streaming every 15 minutes through November, as part of the UU Ministry For The Earth campaign for climate justice. Watch on ... read more . The post The Condor & The Eagle, Film & Discussion appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Upcoming RE Classes: K-6 Experiences with the Web of Life: These nature lovers will meet again Sunday morning, 11/21, from 9:30-10:15. Here’s their “assignment” from this past Sunday’s class. Please have your child complete the assignment so they can most fully engage in class. Find insects in your special place ... read more . The post RE This Week – Nov. 9th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Dear UUSS~ What is time? Chronos time and Kairos time. Time warps. Time machines. Hammer time. Moving our clocks back an hour this past weekend back to ‘standard’ time is a curious ritual; just as it is in the spring when we move them ahead an ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Nov. 9th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

By Pamela D. Toler | Cathy Williams (more or less 1844–1892) was the first African American woman known to have served in the United States Army—a two-year stint in which she passed as a man. Born a slave near Independence, Missouri, she was a “house girl” on the Johnson plantation in Cole County, near the Missouri capital of Jefferson City, when the Civil War began. After General Nathaniel Lyons’s troops captured Jefferson City, which had become a rebel stronghold, the Eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry claimed Williams and other escaped or displaced slaves as “contrabands.” She traveled with the regiment for the rest of the war, working as a laundress.

I practice what adrienne maree brown calls “holding change,” which allows people who hold my beliefs, ideals and values to gather around and feed and nurture me emotionally and spiritually. Who are the people holding and supporting you through change?

        It was on this day, the 10th of November, in 1793, that the revolutionary French Convention proclaimed the investiture of a goddess of reason. She was the central figure for a new state sponsored cult designed to replace Catholic Christianity. The deity’s image was installed on the high altar of the […]

DanaLee Simon We already have everything we need within us to meet the life that is before us. Continue reading "The Work That's Ours to Do"

A real dodo, Senator Ted Cruz is furious with Big Bird for getting his Fauci Ouchy.  Guess which one laid an egg. Big Bird is in trouble .   Again.   It seems that in a recent Sesame Street segment  he was vaccinated for the Coronavirus even though real six -year-olds —his perennial age—are not yet approved to get it.   But that minor anomaly was not what caused Texas Senator and buffoon Ted Cruz’s head to explode .   It was that the large ambling avian got the shot at all— proof , he claimed, that the PBS staple was just a propaganda shill of the Biden administration and a tool for brainwashing toddlers and their mommies .   He smelled a whiff of conspiracy in the air.   On cue the whole Repugnant messaging machine sprin...

When we launched the Side With Love Action Center this summer, we imagined it as a place where UUs and other people of faith and conscience could easily find the resources they needed to dive deeply and faithfully into the campaigns that were important to them and their communities. The Action Center is a way to unify our shared labor and ministry based on a vision of creating a beloved community, grounded in our UU faith.   This week, we celebrate the hundreds of Unitarian Universalists who have joined the Action Center to learn, grow, and act in service to building beloved community. In just 2 months, we have hosted 27 events with 2000 participants and welcomed over 100 new people to out organizing.  Learn more about how you can gro...

Sunday, November 14, 10:30 a.m. “Safe Spaces and Soft Places to Land” A Hybrid Multigenerational Service with lay preacher Nancy Rogers.  “I love Safe Space; I love talking about it, I love co-creating it, I love partaking of it. We can craft healing Safe Space intentionally — such as we do in our dazzling and beautiful   [ … ] The post Sunday, November 14 ~ Safe Spaces and Soft Places to Land ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

Pagan groups demand more from the COP26 summit including immediate, sustainable, and equitable action on the climate crisis. Continue reading Pagans expect COP26 to do more at The Wild Hunt.

The sale of Taino artifacts and cultural items by Christie's draws protests and public outcry. Continue reading Indigenous Taino protest artifacts sold by Christie’s at The Wild Hunt.