Guest post by childcare professional Stephanie Manhardt.      November 1st seems to have transformed into the unofficial start of the Holiday season. This is such a magical time of the year and through the eyes of children, the magic is everywhere and everything. There are so many activities and gatherings to enjoy. On the east coast the weather doesn’t always make it easy to attend those fun activities. Luckily the magic can be done within your home. read more... The post Guest Post: 2 Holiday-Themed Activities That You Can Do With Kids At Home appeared first on Promise the Children.

“Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a White mother’s son—we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.” – Ella Baker (1903-1986) In weeks like this one, it can be particularly heartbreaking to see just how far the aspirations of our faith and the realities of our society are from one another.  In Kenosha, Wisconsin, after a ghastly display of the racism inherent in our judicial process, the jury just returned a verdict of not guilty on all counts, acquitting a young white man of the murders of two pro-BLM protesters participating in the uprising that occurred after the police killing of Jacob Blake. In Brunswick, Georgia, the defe...

"Those stereotypically “masculine” qualities that I intuitively rejected as a young queer boy in the 1970’s, identifying instead with those espoused by strong female role models whose characters resonated with my own soul. Wonder Woman didn’t just want to “beat up the bad guy” (no matter how good she might look doing it!); she wanted to win hearts, minds, and souls." Continue reading Column: The Magic of Wonder Woman at The Wild Hunt.

Please join us on Saturday (20 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 (20 November 2021)"

Please join us next Wednesday (24 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.

We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers.  We feel encouraged by the cooling weather and the possibility of comfortable outdoor activities. We are not resuming regular classes for children and youth at this time because our classrooms are too small to be safe for unvaccinated children, and because we want some time to … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Updates"

For this Sunday (21 November 2021), our 9:00 AM adult religious education class is taking a break.  We will resume class next Sunday (28 November 2021). We will resume discussing episodes of the podcast Learning How to See with Rev. Brian McLaren, Father Richard Rohr, and Rev. Jacqui Lewis next Sunday. The podcasters are discussing … Continue reading "No Online Adult Religious Education This Sunday (21 November 2021) — Class Resumes 28 November 2021"

Please join us on Sunday (14 November 2021) at 11:00 AM for our Thanksgiving Service and Potluck Feast with Rev. Barbara Jarrell. Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here. And . . .  this will be our third consecutive in-person worship service in the sanctuary since March 2020. We have some special rules … Continue reading "In-Person and Online All-Ages Worship (21 November 2021)"

“Our bodies inherently have value; our bodies are where we live, and they’re the container for all of our experiences—including our religious and/or spiritual experiences. If we tolerate or perpetuate the devaluing of other people’s bodies, we’re also willing to devalue their spiritual experiences. Ableism is the centering of able bodies and experiences over disabled … Continue reading Ableism

The Hollis Chair of Divinity Harvard Divinity School’s Hollis Chair of Divinity was established in 1721 by a donation from the wealthy merchant, Thomas Hollis. The Hollis chair is the oldest endowed chair in the United States, the first professorship in theology in the country, and, in the early 1800s, was the most prestigious professorship in America. The first three holders of the Hollis chair were Calvinist Congregationalists: Edward Michael Wigglesworth (43 years); his son, Edward Wigglesworth (27 years); and David Tappan, who died in 1803 after holding the chair for just nine years. At Tappan’s death, the chair was vacant for two years as the liberal and conservative wings fought over who would succeed to the chair. Jesse Applet...

Note —After public observations of Transgender Day of Remembrance were canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, they are returning to communities across the U.S. and the globe as violence continues to escalate against people identifying or displaying non-traditional gender identity, especially transwomen of color.   Remembrance must me matched with action. Maybe because their namesand faces get lost in the grim glut of crime reporting. Maybe because no one knew their story—or their secret.  Maybe it’s because the Guardians at the gate want to protect our tender sensibilities.  Maybe it’s because outside of “those people” no one cares.  Or maybe it’s because some see a kind of rough justice acted out on the streetsa...

One of my students, Ray Taylor, sent me this photo of a box made by one of his students, making it obvious that we live on in the things we've taught others. Ray teaches woodworking at the Northwest Arkansas Community College. The following is from Felix Adler's address to the National Conference of Charities and Correction, Buffalo, July 1888 discussing the value of making a simple wooden box: "By manual training we cultivate the intellect in close connection with action. Manual training consists of a series of actions which are controlled by the mind, and which react on it. Let the task assigned be, for instance, the making of a wooden box. The first point to be gained is to attract the attention of the pupil to the task. A wooden box ...

      Leo Tolstoy died on this day, the 20th of November, in 1910. He is one of those complicated figures, difficult, and yet shining with might be called the harsh light of the divine.  In his Confession and Other Religious Writings, he offers something I’ve found an absolute delight. It’s sort of a […]

Have I been doing art every day? Yes, but this piece is so slow, and my time with it so short each day, that it’s only half done. I’m really liking it, though.

TWH commemorates Trans Day of Remembrance, 2021, acknowledging the disproportionate violence against trans people. Continue reading 2021 Transgender Day of Remembrance at The Wild Hunt.

You have a spark of the divine within you—the essential potential for goodness. To many, the ultimate religious journey of humanity is nurturing that spark of the divine and fully realizing our inherent goodness. How can you recognize and nurture the divine within yourself today?

It’s good to be thankful and giving thanks is part of my daily spiritual practice – even though gratitude isn’t everything. As we approach the American Thanksgiving holiday, here are five things I’m especially thankful for this year.

Gun for hire Tom Horn passed the time awaiting trial in the office of the Laramie County Sheriff calmly plaiting a horse hair Mexican style riata.  Tom Horn is a kind of litmus test of conflicting, class driven, views of Western history.  Depending on who you ask the soft spoken man who was hung for shooting a 14 year old boy in the back and killing him was a misunderstood hero, the beau ideal of a cowboy, lawman, and range detectiveor a ruthless, pitiless gun for hire. These two visions are represented in American culture by two iconicbut contrasting western stories.  Owen Wister’s The Virginian had as its hero the noble foreman of a great ranch who led a fight against rustlers and thieves.  Years later in the classic film Shane, ...

Yesterday I learned that a friend, Joe Youcha, director of Building to Teach, will write a review of my new book for Wooden Boat Magazine. Publication of the review has been approved by magazine editor, Matt Murphy. You may remember Joe as the designer of the wooden boats we made at the Clear Spring School a few years back. In his Building to Teach program schools build boats to learn math. It's based on the understanding that we learn best when we're doing real things. Joe, having read an advanced review copy of the book, told me that he intends to buy the book for his students, his own kids, and would buy copies of the book for his own teacher if he was able, as some of those are now gone. Those teachers left profound marks on his life...

The story of the first Thanksgiving, as we've come to tell it, glosses over the reality of Native American encounters with their colonizers. This week, how reclaiming and retelling the truth of the lives of our forebears is an act of gratitude for what has come before.

Nature has her ways. Fallen trees slowly return to become earth again. Moss, ferns, bugs, and fungus all do their part to help. It is a beautiful process which moves more swiftly if there is water about. Water is the source of life, even in death. It brings transformation, completing the cycle, spiraling forward in […]

        GIVING THANKS A Meditation for an Antifa Sunday James Ishmael Ford First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles 21 November 2021   I began an earlier draft for today’s message with a litany listing the many wrongs with this world on display just this past week. It began with Kyle Rittenhouse and […]

Alan D.E. nos relata la leyenda de un mujeriego que se encuentra con un extranjero afuera de una catedral en Caracas, la cual resulta en reflexiones sobre sus relaciones y dificultades con la confianza. Continue reading Columna: El Enano de la Catedral, una leyenda sobre las apariencias at The Wild Hunt.

Alan D.D. recounts a legend of a womanizing man meeting a stranger outside a cathedral in Caracas, and reflects on his own past relationships and difficulties with trust. Continue reading Column: A Legend of Appearance and Deception at The Wild Hunt.

“Even if you don’t know who your ancestors are, your ancestors know who you are.” @drxicana Dra. Vanessa M. Bustamante I think I am coming to the end of my intensive search for the family of my Innu third-great-grandmother Marie Madeleine. I have found the most likely Marie Madeleine of the many that I researched, […]

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "7 November 2021 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "14 November 2021 Worship Livestreaming Video"

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services. This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats. For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook … Continue reading "21 November 2021 Worship Livestreaming Video"

“We speak to the god, the goddess, the spirit of life, the eternal. We speak to the mysterious thread that connects us one to the other and to the universe. We speak to the deep wisdom at the center of our beings. We embody the yearning of all people.” -Susan Manker-Seale What is the deep … Continue reading Deep Wisdom

        Fifty-eight years ago today, on the 22nd of November, 1963, in Dallas, the president of the United States,John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. It was a lifetime ago. Actually two lifetimes. The parents of adults today were not yet born. Fifty-eight years is a long time. It made me wonder and I […]

New Yorkers gobbled up hastily printed extra editions as they gathered in shock on the city streets. November 22 .  For the members of a couple of generations, at least, I don’t have to say or writeanything else.  You know.  The date and the eventare etched in your mind.  If you were sentient in 1963the moment when you heard the news is so solidly etched in your memorythat you can recall every detail—the cast of the light through the window, the muffled sobs or wails, even the smell of that autumn day 58 years ago. November 22, 1963 was, of course, the day President John F. Kennedy was shot while passing the Texas School Book Depository Building in Dallas, Texasin an open car with his young wife, resplendent in pink, sitting besi...

The view from my desk in the Cambridge Unitarian Church What follows here is a lightly edited version of my message to members of the Cambridge Unitarian Church, UK, where I am lucky to be the minister. Having penned it for them, it struck me that some readers of this blog may also want to read it and, perhaps, come along to the Zoom event mentioned. You would be most welcome.   Dear All, It was lovely to see and talk with you all at the last Wednesday Evening Zoom Conversation. Thank you. As promised, here are a few links to introduce you both to the text of the Tannisho and Shin Buddhism . What I am proposing is that during the next few months we talk/walk through the Tannisho chapter by chapter — i.e. one chapter every other week. ...

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Secretary Halland announces the removal of derogatory place names, the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magic announces a new exhibit, a new mural in Scotland to Isobel Gowdie, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of November 22, 2021 at The Wild Hunt.

An interesting new children’s book of Bible stories is being funded on Kickstarter. The goal: a kid’s book that’s gender-balanced. Why? Because for the majority of children’s Bible story books, “female characters are vastly underrepresented in both the stories and the illustrations.” The illustrations are also going to show racially diverse characters. Admirable, and I … Continue reading "Gender-balanced kids’ book of Bible stories"

Muds and Possum are worried about going to visit relatives at Thanksgiving, because of uncomfortable conversations with relatives who have differing opinions about climate change, gender, and religion…. As usual, full text is below the fold. Go to Part 2. Possum: Muds, I’m worried about Thanksgiving. Muds: But I thought Thanksgiving was your favorite holiday, … Continue reading "Thanksgiving with family, pt. 1"

Dr. Sharpie, Rolf, Ms. and Mr. Bear, and Elephant share Thanksgiving dinner together. They wonder how Thanksgiving dinner went for Muds and Possum. Just then, Muds and Possum come home…. As usual, full text is below the fold. Part 3 coming soon. Ms. Bear: Oh good, everyone’s here. Rolf: The food’s all ready, let’s eat! … Continue reading "Thanksgiving with family, pt. 2"

Finding a physical center is an important part of many peoples’ spiritual journeys. Though our bodies have different ways of feeling comfort and of moving in the world, we can all use our bodies to connect with something greater than ourselves. Take a few moments just to sit today–to center yourself in your body and … Continue reading Sitting

I recently took an adult religious education class at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, NJ (UUCM) led by the Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, senior co-minister. The course was on Walter Rauschenbusch’s text “A Theology for the Social Gospel.” He gave us an assignment to define sin and salvation as a UU. This really had me […] The post A Pagan understanding of the Christian’s belief of sin & salvation appeared first on Nature's Sacred Journey.

Here are some boundaries to think about and to think with. Meditate on them in the context of your particular situation and see what comes to you. You may be surprised at the answers you find inside yourself.

Schenectady Community Ministries/SiCM Food Pantry reports they are happy to get calendars to distribute! Although you can’t drop your spare calendars in the SiCM box on Sunday mornings at the Green Sanctuary table, we are still collecting them. Just send an email to Nancy Peterson ... read more . The post Calendar Collection for SiCM/Food Pantry appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Once again, COVID-19 is preventing us from doing our traditional Dining for Dollars lasagna dinner fundraiser. It still doesn’t feel safe enough for us to gather in groups to cook and pack meals, but with people still struggling we feel the need to do something, ... read more . The post Dining for Dollars – “the cookie version” 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.

K-6 EXPERIENCES WITH THE WEB OF LIFE: These nature lovers will meet again online on Sunday, 12/5, from 9:30-10:15. It was wonderful getting to see so many of you in person this past Sunday! A big THANK YOU to teachers Joel Best and Ed Kautz for ... read more . The post RE This Week – Nov 23rd appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

This week may you be blessed with enough nourishing food, good health for you and your family, an opportunity to serve the wider community. This week may you be blessed with enough nourishing connection, emotional health to express joy and grief, an opportunity to know your place in the family of things. (thank ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Nov 23rd appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

                                 Poet, mystic, activist Robert Bly. Robert Bly, the iconic and wayward Minnesota poet best known as the founder of the sometimes controversial spiritual mythopoetic men’s movementwhich tried to re-connect masculinity with nature and re-balancethe male role the sacred feminine, died Sunday in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the age of 94.   He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease since at least 2012. Bly, through his publications, seminars, and tribal gatherings nurturednew generations of ecopoets.   The men’s movement he spurred with the publication of his book Iron John: A Book About Men in 1990 exploded in popularity and participation around the turn of the 21st Century. ...

In the conclusion to the “Thanksgiving with Family” series, Muds and Possum talk over the Thanksgiving dinners they had with their relatives. For both of them, it didn’t go as badly as they had feared! As usual, full text is below the fold. Possum: Hi Muds! Muds: Oh, you’re back from visiting your relatives at … Continue reading "Thanksgiving with family, pt. 3"

Evelyn Caruso is the new Front Desk Coordinator at All Souls. Stop in the church office anytime between 10 & 3 pm, Monday through Friday to welcome Evelyn to the All Souls family! The post Meet Evelyn Caruso! appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Susan Frederick-Gray However you celebrate, holidays and rituals are an invitation for reflection. They remind us of our past, and they also invite us to be attentive to the present moment. Practicing gratitude helps us all to be intentional in naming the gifts that surround us, reminding us that we are loved and we all share a fundamental interdependence.

The second part of a two-part series on the Parliament of World's Religions that focuses on the important role interfaith plays for Pagans. Continue reading Interfaith work: The Parliament of the World’s Religions, Part Two at The Wild Hunt.

By grieving healthily, the memory of loss gradually transforms its predominate tone: from pain to gratitude for what was. This work can have no deadlines. You’re ready to move on when you’re ready to move on, and you can’t determine in advance when that will be. It takes as long as it takes. You can bring some intentionality to the process, but you can’t control how long it takes. Eventually, on its own schedule, grief work leads us toward gratitude and peace. The other connection between gratitude and grief points the opposite direction. Gratitude contains hints back toward grief. All things must pass. That for which we are today grateful will pass. Today, once again, I am grateful for breathing. Some day – maybe today – my ...

I sometimes like to say that I’m religious but not spiritual, because I associate “religion” with institutions, and “spirituality” with individualism. I’ve come to really dislike the hyper-individualism of the U.S. today, and for me institutionalism lies at the very heart of my religion. So to better express my religious values, I just added an … Continue reading "Institutionalism"

“This is a prayer for all the travelers. For the ones who start out in beauty, who fall from grace, who step gingerly, looking for the way back. And for those who are born into the margins, who travel from one liminal space to another, crossing boundaries in search of center.” -Angela Herrera What are … Continue reading Boundaries

        Keiji Nishitani died on this day, the 24th of November, in 1990.\ If you’re unfamiliar with him, and you are interested in Zen, I suggest you may want to learn more. He was one of the principal figures in the establishment of the Kyoto School, which the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, […]

Murfin’s It turns out that this illustration, swiped from a children's book, was actually created by Theresa Murfin! Gotta be some kind of relative!.  Hello, cousin and feel free to stop by for the feast.  We'll make room. Note— This has been one of my most popular, regularly requested, and widely shared of my annual holiday posts. So here it is today, in plenty of time to share with your guests—or your hosts.   This list of rules is particularly apt for those of us who do not live in House Beautiful , Snapchat posts, or Martha Stewart fantasies.   It’s for those of us with cramped space, short time, and real families of blood, choice, accident, or convenience that don’t resemble that famous Norman Rockwell cover or behave ...

Sally Fritsche May we release ourselves from the need to fit every truth neatly into our own language. Continue reading "An Atheist's Prayers"

We've finished an arched bridge with student help at the Clear Spring School, and with help from my tractor and some straps we'll carry it for installation on the Schoo campus, giving our students a clear path over a creek between buildings. On projects like this, that are adult in nature, not every child will be involved with the same level of enthusiasm, but each can help and learn, and too few kids these days are drawn in as participants in adult labor. In my home woodshop I'm finishing some boxes that had accumulated unfinished. Each is different, so they'll give me a way to provide boxes to a few galleries that handle my work. When I have quiet times in the wood shop I've been listening to the Path to Learning Podcast. It is readily...

I’m so grateful to everyone who came together to affirm the dignity of lives lived in truth and connect to the tragedy of the at least 46 lives lost due the compounded violences of transphobia, racism, classism, and capitalism. This service was a reminder that we are all responsible for the epidemic of violence against the transgender community…and must do everything we can to celebrate the lives of the transgender, genderqueer, and non-binary community by dismantling any and all barriers to total equity and full inclusion in our congregations, institutions, and society at large. View the 2021 UUA Transgender Day of Remembrance Chapel Resources to Support the Transgender Community Subscribe to the UPLIFT Newsletter TransLash Media cr...

An online service with lay preacher Daniel Stack   “Soon after I became sachem they disarmed all my people…their land was taken. But a small part of the dominion of my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live until I have no country.” King Philip, Sachem Metacom of the Wampanoag   The Unitarian Church of   [ … ] The post Sunday, November 28 ~ Exploring Our Forebears ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

As COP26 closed, scientists and investors were already looking at strategies to mitigate the impact of a warming planet. Continue reading Some strategies to offset climate change impacts were underway before COP26 at The Wild Hunt.

Our area of Maine loves nature news. So when we heard in the news that there were visiting river otters in the ponds at Evergreen Cemetery, we joined many other Portland residents to go to the cemetery to see if we could see them. And we did! We saw this one in one of the […]

The practice of gratitude is one that connects us to something important. We do this daily to remind ourselves of the grace–the unearned blessing–that surrounds us. What are you grateful for today?

      In preparation for Thanksgiving, along with getting ready for the family gathering, where my spouse Jan & I are the cooks (we appear to be the only people in the family who aspire to taking care of the vegans and the folk who need blood at every meal), I reviewed some of […]

Thomas Nast's 1869 Thanksgiving cartoon pictured Uncle Sam carving a turkey at a diverse post-Civil Ware table inhabited a legion of ethnic stereotypes under the watchful eyes of Presidents Lincoln, Washington, and Grant belied Nast's own strong Nativist bias.  He extoled universal suffrage for freed slaves and women, but certainly didn't mean if to include the table's Native American interloper. For some, the annual angst over Thanksgiving is upon us.  For years Native American protests that the Holiday represents European colonialism, American racism, cultural erasure, and actual genocide have begun to registerwith many of the rest of the current inhabitants of this country.  It is hard to deny that our First Nations, as the Canadia...

This is Thanksgiving day and as folks gather to celebrate the holiday let's remember to stay safe and not infect those we love with a disease that may keep them from being with us in years to come. Ironically, the celebration of Thanksgiving began during the Civil War in the United States as the North was fighting to abolish human slavery and the South was fighting to retain the right to hold human beings in bondage. And yet, now North and South, we celebrate and give thanks. One of the points that I make in my new book, The Wisdom of Our Hands has to do with the small things of useful beauty that occupy our lives.  Shopping small and avoiding the big box stores this holiday season, starting tomorrow with Black Friday, gives us a better...

Greetings of gratitude from TWH. Continue reading Thanksgiving 2021 at The Wild Hunt.

UUSC partner el Foro de Mujeres por la Vida provides a critical space to discuss Honduras’ elections and what those elections mean for women’s rights.

“I don’t want a faith that wordsmiths my truth, that asks why it’s necessary to use the words that best describe my experience as a queer person. I don’t need help finding alternative words that might go over better with strangers. I need my siblings in faith to notice their discomfort in hearing about my … Continue reading Solidarity

            For years and years people have talked about the Zen awakening experiences collected in Philip Kapleau’s Three Pillars of Zen. These accounts have inspired many people, including me, toward the practice, especially toward koan introspection. And these accounts have enjoyed a fair amount of reaction. At first in at […]

Here we are at Black Friday again, and it seems that enough container ships coming from China made it to port and were unloaded in time to make most consumers happy with things that will fill our landfills in no time flat. The goods delivered to us from foreign manufacturers amount to trillions of dollars in cost with a balance of trade deficit that would quickly cripple a smaller nation. But few questions are asked. Some while back, economists and policy makers decided that we'd have a service economy rather than one that relied on making the things we need. Then we entered an "information age," in which exchange of information over the television and computer screens would earn our keep. It's time a few of us call BS. The opportunity c...

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— The Roman poet Lucretius felt that a fundamental, material condition of nature as it appears [naturae species ratioque] was movement. He wrote: “Everything must pass through successive stages. Nothing remains for ever what it was. Everything is on the move [omnia migrant] . Everything is transformed by nature and forced into new paths” (Lucretius: DRN 3.829-831, trans. R. E. Latham). Today is the first Sunday of Advent and so it is worth remembering that the Advent and Christmas myths themselves express this truth because all...

After a tough year and a half many of us can now get out and about to hear live music, perform, or join in seasonal singing.  Those all-Christmas music radio stationsare already churning out their short rotation of holiday hits.  TV specials from highbrow to hipare on almost every night.  There are plenty of ways for you to get your jolly Jones for Yuletide tunessatisfied.   But if you are in the moodfor a quiet moment each day with a steaming mug of coffee, cocoa, mulled something or other, or something stronger and more adult, Murfin’s Annual Winter Holidays Music Festival is for you!      Murfin's Winter Holidays Music Festival is back! This is how it works: Every year beginning on the day after Thanksgiving—Black Friday i...

Frederick Douglass is the most important black American and one of the most important abolitionists of the 19th century. I admire him for the same reason I admire Malcolm X: he started with almost everything against him and rose because he was a brilliant speaker who could admit his mistakes and transcend them.Yet Douglass was left out of the 1619 Project for at least two reasons. Regarding the

UUSC is committed to ensuring that elections in Honduras are fair and accessible for all Hondurans

"Other elemental energies sometimes communicate with me using words, but earth most often sends images." Continue reading Column: Elemental Earth at The Wild Hunt.

Please join us on Saturday (27 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 (27 November 2021)"

Bridges are marvels of engineering and architecture that provide vital connection for societies. Similarly, we build spiritual bridges that provide vital connection for our souls. Make a connection today. Reach out.

    It’s November 27th! And with that, once again, the blessings of the saints Barlaam & Josaphat are upon us! This is flat out my favorite of all Christian holidays. And I like to remind people of the details of this original Christian Buddhist mashup. So, please forgive the repetition parts of this small sharing. […]

I got an advertisement via email this morning for this Brio Builder Set shown it the photo. It reminded me that many parents want their kids to be doing stuff. It also reminded me that a some parents out there have the capacity to make building sets that are far more interesting and at a much lower cost, and that offer a much higher level of collaborative fun.  Threaded inserts are a fabulous way of making jigs and fixtures for woodworking, but they are also great for building things that can be taken apart, and put back together in new configurations. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07QQQFZQW To build a builder set for your child, make a few long joining strips with 1/4 in. holes in them, buy some 10 x 20 steel screws of various lengths ...

Orwell was Wrong.Jordan L’Hôte, CC BY 3.0Moralists dream of making the world better by controlling the language we use. I understand their love of symbolic change—it is much easier to make words taboo and create new ones than it is to change reality. The moralists’ belief that words shape reality is known, appropriately, by several names: linguistic relativity, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis,

A recent genetic study of Viking Age individuals reveals that, far from being "pure Scandinavian," the Vikings embraced a diverse array of peoples into their culture. Karl Seigfried argues for contemporary Heathens to emulate this diversity in the modern religion. Continue reading Column: The Viking Age as a Model of Diversity at The Wild Hunt.

                                                                      Thanksgiving Song by Mary Chapin Carpenter. Let’s linger over Thanksgiving music through this four day weekend and before we plunge headfirst into Christmas fare.  No reason or need to rush the jingle bells and tinsel.  We’ll start with a piece by Mary Chapin Carpenter off her 2008 album Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas .  Chances are unless you are a hardcore fan you have not heard Thanksgiving Song which generated almost no airplay when it came out or since. Carpenter is an original and some say quirky country music/Americana singer songwriter who is much beloved by other artists across many genres ...

    All summer I made friends With the creatures nearby – They flowed through the fields And under the tent walls, Or padded through the door, Grinning through their many teeth, Looking for seeds, Suet, sugar; muttering and humming, Opening the breadbox, happiest when There was milk and music. But once In the night […]

Please join us next Wednesday (1 December 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.

The All Souls Holiday All Souls Holiday Park-It Market will happen on Sunday (12 December 2021) from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Attention all painters, bakers, sculptors, sketch artists, fabric artists, candle makers, candy makers, jewelry makers, authors, musicians, makers, and merchants of all the things . . . We know this is short notice, but … Continue reading "All Souls Holiday Park-It Market — Sunday, 12 December 2021"

We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers.  We feel encouraged by the cooling weather and the possibility of comfortable outdoor activities. We are not resuming regular classes for children and youth at this time because our classrooms are too small to be safe for unvaccinated children, and because we want some time to … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Updates"

Please join us on Sunday (28 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 — 28 November 2021"

Please join us on Sunday (28 November 2021) at 11:00 AM for “My Source of Resilience, Strength, and Hope — Member Reflections” by Claudia Harris and Kevin Henry.  This service will also includes reflections on Advent by Susan Caldwell. Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here. This will be our fourth consecutive in-person … Continue reading "In-Person and Online All-Ages Worship (28 November 2021)"

“Creative Darkness, closest friend, you whisper in the night; you calm our fears as unknown paths surprise us with new sight.” -Jann Aldredge-Clanton Spend some time in darkness today. Feel its power and its healing.

A meme going around says “most magic is just making stuff up.” I’m uncomfortable with this line of thinking. While intuitive magic is real, for most people a disciplined approach to magic will yield better results than flying by the seat of your pants.

                                             We Gather Together sung by the Hymn Ensemble.   This Sunday we share a simple, lyrical hymn beloved of American Protestants and most often used in Thanksgiving services.   It seems to invoke a colonial or early republican times.   But the song is not American, older than that, and not meant to be associated with the American harvest feast.   Instead, We Gather Together is 200 years older, of Dutch origin with a bloody inspiration.   Originally written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius as Wilt heden nu treden to celebrate the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout. It was thus a patriotic song rather than a religious one.   But of course, i...

You can create simple connector building sets by using axle pins. They are designed for use with two sizes of drill bit and are normally used to connect wooden wheels to toy cars and trucks. The tenon will fit tightly into a 7/32 in. hole, or rotate freely in a hole drilled 1/4 in.  diameter. At the Clear Spring School we use these as axle pins for making toy cars and also for pins to secure pivoting lids on boxes. Drill 1/4 in. holes in pieces you want to pivot freely, and 7/32 in. holes where you want the pin to fit tight.  I'll not show you anything further about this, as you can use your own imaginations or rely on the imaginations of your own kids. The point of course is that with a drill, some scraps of wood, and two sizes of dri...

      As it happens the Episcopal diocese of Hawaii celebrates today, the 28th of November as the “Feast of the Holy Sovereigns.” The rest of the Episcopal church marks today as a feast for “Kamehameha and Emma, King & Queen of Hawaii.” While I have mixed feelings about how royals end up saints, […]

We did a really hard hike this week. The “Old Quarry Trail” on Mount Burdell. It was beautiful, but there was about a quarter of a mile that was close to impossible for me. It was steep and rocky, lots of the rocks were loose and climbing required some really large steps on unstable ground. […]

In this season of Thanksgiving, we celebrate the many ways music can touch our spirits, sometimes at a depth words alone don't reach. This virtual service is mostly music, and features videos from many talented singers and musicians in our congregation and beyond. Our overarching theme is gratitude for the love we share, a love that can ripple out to bless the world.

Nicogenin, CC BY-SA 2.0When the rich dress to impress, they wear black suits and dresses. Because wealth is associated with power and knowledge, judges, scholars, and priests wear black gowns. And because knowledge is associated with sex, people who want to be sexy wear black tuxedoes, gowns, little dresses, and lingerie.Black is the color of the richest earth.Black gold is a name for oil

CUC Approves 8th Principle on Dismantling Racism and Systemic Barriers to Full Inclusion On Saturday, November 27th, 2021 at a Special Meeting, Canadian Unitarian Universalists voted to approve adding an 8th Principle to the current seven Principles: “We, the member congregations of the Canadian Unitarian Council, covenant to affirm and promote:” Individual and communal action […] The post CUC Approves 8th Principle on Dismantling Racism and Systemic Barriers to Full Inclusion appeared first on Canadian Unitarian Council Conseil unitarien du Canada.

The mystery of the Brown Mountain Lights remain unexplained and offer an opportunity for adventure when it comes to viewing them. Continue reading The magic and mystery of the Brown Mountain Lights at The Wild Hunt.