I’m always happy when there’s a new posting from Andrew Henry’s wonderful wonderful Youtube channel, Religion for Breakfast. If you’re not familiar with it and you care at all for a scholarly approach to the matters of religion, you are in for a treat. You’re welcome. On the 18th of this month, […]

We drive up to the Cumberland County Fairgrounds in Maine to sing shape note music. We tried to check into the campground on the fairgrounds, but there was no one to check in with. We called the number of the man who supposedly oversees the campground. He sort of grunted at us over the phone, … Continue reading "Westport, Mass., to Cumberland Center, Me."

Maybe it was a Kodachrome red, white, and blue history that never really existed, but I believed it. I do not care what was hidden behind the lessons because what I believed matters more. I believed in hope. I believed in an intelligent, reasoned love of country. I believed in the ideal of good and right prevailing. I believed in freedom for all. Continue reading Opinion: This is My America at The Wild Hunt.

When we think of climate disasters, we usually think about wildfires, floods, or hurricanes. Extreme heat may not be the first thing to come to mind, but it is one of the most dangerous of all climate impacts, especially with urban heat islands common in historically segregated communities . Extreme heat kills hundreds of Americans each year and causes many more to be seriously ill. Image 1: Parent and child swimming in a public pool. Image 2: Two first responders loading a patient into an ambulance. Text: "What Media Shows. Reality." News of record-breaking heat is everywhere right now–you may be feeling the effects in your hometown. While the media says, “everyone loves the summer heat!” with fun pictures of children playing in p...

The struggle for climate justice continues in the wake of a devastating Supreme Court ruling on greenhouse gas emissions.

      The Xinxin Ming Attributed to Sengcan Xinxin Ming (alternate spellings Xin Xin Ming or Xinxinming) (Chinese: 信心銘; Pīnyīn: Xìnxīn Míng; Wade–Giles: Hsin Hsin Ming; Romanji: Shinjinmei), meaning “Faith in Mind”, is a poem attributed to the Third Chinese Chán Patriarch Jianzhi Sengcan (Chinese: 鑑智僧璨; Pīnyīn: Jiànzhì Sēngcàn; Wade–Giles: Chien-chih Seng-ts’an; Romaji: Kanchi Sōsan) and one of the earliest Chinese Chan expressions of the Buddhist mind training practice. The Zen teacher Dosho Port suggests “If […]

Please join us on Saturday (23 July 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 (23 July 2022)"

Unlike much of the country during the Great Railway Strike of 1877, under a declared Commune and strike committee, closing the rail yards and warehouses was orderly and spread into the first General Strike in America. It was great moment in American labor history that has been strippedfrom our collective memories.   If it is noted at all it is a mere a footnote to the Great Railway Strike of 1877, that explosion of pent up working class wrath that rolled violently across the nation and scared the bejesus out of the oligarchsof a rapidly industrializing nation.   But it deserves more attention.   Much more. The Railway Strike erupted on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia.   Amid the lingering depression set off by the Panic of 1873...

“An Angel Leading a Soul into Hell”—a follower of Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450–1516)  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— Although I realise it’s very different for many other people, the fear of hell played little part in my own liberal Protestant upbringing. But this week I found myself very much in hell thanks to the truly distressing but, this time at least, mercifully brief, extreme heatwave we have just gone through in the UK. The experience served to remind me of Christianity’s idea of in what consists hell and how and why this idea has help...

Our religious pluralism asks us to let go of certainty in how we experience the sacred, and instead embrace the understanding that many different ways of experiencing it are equally valid. Sometimes, this is a challenge. How have you been challenged by practicing pluralism?

      In pretty much all sacramental Christian churches today, the 22nd of July, is marked out as a feast for Mary Magdalene. Over the years I’ve paused to reflect on this most remarkable and in some ways mysterious woman. Each time I do I find a need to tweak and often to add […]

When I got up at about six this morning, there was fairly heavy fog. I went for a walk, but my glasses soon fogged up and I couldn’t see very well. So I listened for birds. A Lesser Yellowlegs remained unseen, but I could hear it calling tu — tu — tu as if flew … Continue reading "Fog"

Today an important announcement was made about the formation of the Museum of Eureka Springs Art, MESA. We have a board, non-profit status and a place for the museum to exist for a few years while we get it off its feet. Founding a museum to celebrate our art has long been a dream among many here, so this is an important step. From the press release: The recently formed Museum of Eureka Springs Art group has secured a space at the Eureka Springs Community Center in what has long been known as the Highlander Room. (Highlanders, you remember it as your old cafeteria!) The museum will not occupy the space until renovations on the community center’s former band room. Grants have written to transform the former band room into usable space f...

The work to restore Boleskine House continues with significant progress underway this summer. Continue reading The restoration of Boleskine House continues at The Wild Hunt.

Nobody wanted long COVID on our collective pandemic Bingo card, but there it is. In her “The Daily Show” interview, OG disability rights badass Judy Heumann told Trevor Noah that the likelihood of his acquiring a disability, temporary or permanent, was statistically high. He took her statement as a threat in jest, but there’s truth in that for us.

“I needed this more than I realized.” That was my first and strongest thought as I left Mystic South last Sunday.

My daughter, when she is frustrated, often asks me to have “a conversation.” By this, she means that I should listen to her and agree with everything she says. Slowly, she is learning that real conversation is two ways. We both speak. We both listen. We both are challenged to experience the other fully. -Rev. … Continue reading Dialogue

        Carlos Duarte Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro on this day, the 21st of July, in 1888. He became a prominent Brazilian Roman Catholic clergyman, eventually Bishop of Botucatu. The bishop denounced the corruption of the civil authorities. And was a central figure in the the Constitutionalist Revolution. He also denounced […]

Cheyenne's 16th Street a/k/a Lincolnway/U.S. Highway 30.  My destination most Saturdays when I had money to spend.  That Army surplus store on the corner was a favorite. It is a hot by dry week and here in McHenry County, Illinois—a short streak of picture perfect summer weather with brilliant skies.   The Old Man’s mind to wanders to other summers long ago and far away. Take those in Cheyenne, Wyoming almost 60 years ago.  Which one to pick?  Each was a little different as I drifted from childhood into my early teens.  Let’s pick, say, 1963 for no good reason other than it popped into my head first.  I would have been 14 years old, between years at Cary Junior High. We lived, as we had since a traumatic move in second grade...

Elaine McArdle Former UUA President William G. Sinkford recognized for decades of distinguished service to the faith.

TWH spoke with several Pagans who voiced their concerns and considerations on reproductive health decisions in a post-Roe world Continue reading Pagans Reflect on a Post-Roe Nation at The Wild Hunt.

Sunday, July 24 ~ 10:30 – Noon sUUmmer sUUnday Spirit Circle   “Walk tall as the trees, live strong as the mountains, be gentle as the spring winds, keep the warmth of the summer sun in your heart, and the great spirit will always be with you.” – First Nations Blessing   The Unitarian Church of   [ … ] The post appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

On July 18, Interfaith Immigration Coalition, Side With Love, & the UU Service Committee offered "Heal Not Harm: Restore Asylum Now" webinar and teach-in. As shared by our speakers who offered their lived experiences, Title 42 is an inhumane and racist policy that violates the inherent worth and dignity of asylum seekers attempting to find safety within the borders of the United States. From blatant anti-blackness, to shackled dehumanization in front of their families, their stories remind us that what is happening is not theoretical but happening every day to real people. And their call to end the atrocities they and others have faced is one we cannot ignore. As people of faith we must not only listen to and learn from the real people w...

As Buddhist teacher Thanissaro Bhikkhu explains, “Right speech, explained in negative terms, means avoiding four types of harmful speech: lies (words spoken with the intent of misrepresenting the truth); divisive speech (spoken with the intent of creating rifts between people); harsh speech (spoken with the intent of hurting another person’s feelings); and idle chatter (spoken … Continue reading Right Speech

        The story of St Wilgefortis is simple enough. Born noble as a teenager in Galicia, she is promised in marriage to a Muslim (or some other kind of pagan) king. Having secretly taken a vow of perpetual virginity she prayed to be made repulsive to the king. The answer to her […]

The world was transfixed by the grainy video from a camera attached to the Lunar Module as Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. As Americans and countless others around the world stayed glued to theirtelevisions, Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the face of the Moonon July 20, 1969, 53 years ago today. Armstrong, the commander of the Apollo 11mission climbed down a ladderfrom the Lunar Module Eagle to the surface in the Sea of Tranquility at 10:56 P.M. Eastern Day Light Time.   As he climbed down he repeated a carefully constructed statement on what he knew would be a historic occasion.   Viewers at home heard him say, “That’s one small step for man, one giant step for mankind.”   Armstrong would late...

I took a walk after dinner, past the crowd waiting at Bayside Restaurant, across the street to Allens Pond. In the field within sight of the road, a man was talking to a twelve year old boy who had earbuds dangling around his neck. “There are probably foxes in here,” he said, gesturing to a … Continue reading "Allens Pond at sundown"

Taken with a Fujifilm X100F Just click on the photo to enlarge it During my summer leave in August 2021, my wife, Susanna, and I took a gentle stroll out of Cambridge along the River Cam to Fen Ditton. We spent a very pleasant hour or so on a bench in the little cemetery there eating our sandwiches and drinking tea whilst this game of cricket pleasantly unfolded across the adjacent playing field. The greatest pleasures of life are nearly always this simple . . . Here on our native soil, we breathe once more. The cock that crows, the smoke that curls, the sound Of bells – those boys that in yon meadow ground In white-sleeve shirts are playing…</i> “Composed In The Valley Near Dover, On The Day Of Landing” (1802)  William Wordsworth

Our ministerial search process is unwieldy and downright crazy. The UUA Director of Settlement, Rev. Keith Kron, and I have had conversations over the years about how much time and energy it takes our congregations to settle a parish minister. Anyone who is paying attention to this issue is well aware that the enormity of … Continue reading "The UU Search And Call Process"

The projected impact of climate change to food sources and agriculture is predicted to be increasingly worse over the coming decades by researchers. Continue reading Updated climate change data suggests the threat to harvests to increase at The Wild Hunt.

Hello, folks. I’ve been meaning to get back to blogging but life intervened! But now I am on vacation and have time to dedicate to an important conversation about clergy resignations. So many clergy have joined the Great Resignation and I think lay people need to know a lot more than they are being told … Continue reading "Clergy Burn-Out: The Current Crisis"

      According to the old style, today, the 19th of July, in 1754, is marked as Seraphim of Sarov‘s birthday. Current calendars put the date at July 30th. But noticing it and thinking of the saint caused a flood of mind bubbles… Seraphim is perhaps the most famous of the Eastern Christian saints. […]

                                                         Two Rocky Mountain Locusts on a grass stalk photographed in Canada in 1875. On July 20, 1875, the second year of a prolonged drought, farmersin eastern Colorado looked up to see an odd , shimmering cloud boiling towards them.   It was the head of a swarm of Rocky Mountain Locust that would eventually grow to be 1,800 miles longand 110 miles wide and stretch from southern Canada to north Texas covering an area larger than California.   The swarm contained an estimated 3.5 trillion insects and may have been the largest concentration of individuals of any speciesin world history.   The locusts, a species of grasshopper, should not be confused with ...

“Let us have the courage to sit in the unknowing, to look for the answers even if they are to sit with our own questions, to be willing to be authentic with ourselves, to be ready to bring our face to the world.” -Katie Kandarian How have you sat in the unknowing?

Announcing a new on-line class from Under the Ancient Oaks: “Pagan Monasticism as a Solitary Practitioner.” Registration is open now; the class begins August 4 and will run for six weeks. Details are in Module 0 on the Courses page.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, wildfires in California and the Mediterranean, more fake social media accounts, statue re-creations at the Met, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of July 18, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Mandela's legacy urges us to continue the fight for human rights across the world.

Paramedics attend a victim of the 1984 McDonalds massacre in San Ysidro, California as a stunned SWAT Team member surveys the carnage. Mass shootings were not unheard of in 1984, but they were far from common.   The 1966 Texas Tower shootings by Charles Whitman at the University of Texas in Austin is often considered the first modern mass murder targeting random victims. 16 were killed and 30 wounded on campus that day.   But the sniper attack would be rare until the Las Vegas shooting in 2017 with 59 dead plus the shooter.   Most incidents with multiple deaths—three or more—were the result of family killings, street gang activity , organized crime wars, or in connection with a crime like robbery.   What happened at a San Ysidro,...

Part of me is searching desperately for trust, wondering how I will find it after having had it broken again and again and again. I think that at least part of the answer is found in compassion—the compassion we have to have for ourselves for the very human condition of not knowing a situation or … Continue reading Uncertainty

We experienced Eid al-Adha publicly and intimately when we were spontaneously invited into a home in Chefchaouen (the Blue City) in Morocco. The post Then the Blue City Ran Red appeared first on BeyondBelief.

    In 1868, Pope Pius IX convened what would come to be called the First Vatican Council. It appears the pope an his closer associates were concerned with the issues of rationalism, materialism, and liberalism in general, as well as the specifics of rising socialism, communism, and anarchism. They did as charged and duly […]

An innovative program being offered by Temple of Witchcraft in Salem, New Hampshire, is redefining ecological awareness and may even lead to a new sacred site for magical practitioners. Continue reading Temple of Witchcraft offers new program in Energetic Geometry at The Wild Hunt.

I preached from this sermon manuscript for the Universalist National Memorial Church, on July 17, 2022 using lessons from the Revised Common Lectionary: Colossians 1:15-28 and Luke 10:38-42. Sermon I would like to thank Pastor Gatton for inviting me to the pulpit and you for welcoming me. I’ll keep today’s comments brief. I will only look at … Continue reading "Sermon: “Divine Image, Human Purpose”"

We got home from our road trip yesterday afternoon. After almost a full month away, it is good to be home. My bags are unpacked and the laundry is done, but it will take me a few days to settle back in. It was a great trip, the first long once since COVID hit. Except […]

We as a society have become accustomed to defining how far a person has come on their journey through life by the measure of the successes they have achieved. But, as much as we may not like to admit it, our failures also have a lot to say about how far we have come...and often they have more to say about how we view life than success. Join Matt Pargeter-Villarreal (past intern at First Unitarian Albuquerque) through a sermon journey of some of the failures that he has encountered and have impacted his life...and how he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Charlotte Corday in the tumbril which bore her to the guillotine, by James E. McConnell.  By all accounts Charlotte Corday stepped on the scaffold on July 17, 1793 in Pariswith remarkable calm and dignity.   She knelt laying her reportedly lovely neck in the yoke of the apparatus.   At the appointed time the sure knife of the guillotine fell and her head tumbled into the waiting basket.   Suddenly, a man named Legros, who may, or may not, have been an assistant to the executioneror perhaps a carpenter who had worked on the machine that morning, rushed forward grabbing the head by its light brown hair and slapped it across the face.   A witness wrote that Corday’s face had an expression of “unequivocal indignation” at the slap....

Read myths plainly – focus on the story, not on the words. Look for truth – especially truth about how to live virtuously in difficult circumstances. Reject literalism and embrace ambiguity. And then put what you learn to use building a practice of your own.

When theology is lived in the midst of community, when it is given life as the bonds that connect each and every one of us as an interdependent web of creation, we understand our principles as living, breathing, organisms that require our care.  We understand that affirming and promoting inherent worth and dignity (yours, and … Continue reading Interdependence

      Today, the 17th of July, in the year of our Lord, 1948, I was born in the city of “no there there,” in the land named for the island home of a tribe of Amazon warriors and their queen. It was a Saturday, a mild day, the temperature never rose above 65 […]

We stayed up late last night singing around the camp fire. Glenn mostly led the singing, with help from Amy, and drumming by Richard. Jon and I helped out where we could with uke and guitar. At Jean-Pierre’s urging, Milene sang us a traditional French Canadian song. Chantelle and some others went to bed at … Continue reading "Saco, Me., to Westport, Mass."

Please join us this Sunday (17 July 2022) at 11:00 AM for “What’s in a Word.  Strengths and Weaknesses” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106 if you are able to … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (17 July 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (17 July 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. We will view and discuss the first half of the Ware Lecture from the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly 2022 featuring Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. Please join us.

Summer religious education is more art and activity-based. All children and youth are with us in the service for the first 20 minutes or so and then are dismissed to their activities. Children and youth are invited to paint their own chalices with Ash McLain and Kevin Henry this Sunday. Middle and High School youth … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education for 17 July 2022"

Please join us next Tuesday (19 July 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.

Storm Faerywolf invites TWH's readers to take a break from the doom and gloom by celebrating a collection of queer Pagan creatives. Continue reading Column: Spotlight on Queer Pagan Creatives at The Wild Hunt.

      Tomorrow I turn seventy-four. According to the psalmist, The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. More contemporary translations say seventy years, and eighty. So. The sands are draining […]

Yesterday I glued up the table bases and sent photos off to folks at Fine Woodworking to see if they might be interested in another article about table design. Next I drill holes in the table tops to connect with the bases. Jean and I attended a James Taylor concert last night and note that at 74 years old, he is still in top form. It was a lovely concert. His voice is still lovely and the music was sublime. Make, fix and create...

1995 headlines tell the shocking story of the heat wave disaster that hit Chicago in July. My Columbia College writing teacher John Schulz penned one of the earliest and best accounts of the demonstrations and street confrontations around the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.   He called it No One Was Killed.   Perhaps he was premature in that judgement by27 years. In July of 1995 more than 700 people died as the city baked in temperatures that hovered around 100° .   It was breathlessly covered with grainy but graphictelevision footage of Chicagoans sweltering and inconvenient bodies stacked in refrigerator trailers at the overwhelmed Cook County Medical Examiner ’ s offices and buried unceremoniously in slit trenches. There ...

I spent last weekend visiting my friend from graduate school Zach Nowak. Zach’s now the Director of the Umbra Institute and invited me to come stay with him. I had never been to Italy before and the combination of seeing an old friend and free housing seemed like a great idea. Zach’s an Italian citizen […]

“Right action” is defined by those things that help us live our values in the world. Buddhists follow specific precepts of right action–not killing, stealing, etc. Unitarian Universalists look to our shared covenant to help us define right action. What does “right action” mean to you?

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— Towards the end of the book of Job, following God’s two long speeches about both his own unparalleled excellence as the creator and sustainer of the world, and also Job’s utter lack of power and knowledge, Job replies with a short speech that has long been interpreted as a kind of capitulation before God. Here’s the speech as it is found in the NRSV (Job 42:1-6). And, although this is Job’s reply, it seems to contain two interjections spoken by God. I’ll alter my voice accordingly for those verses so you can hear ...

Please join us on Saturday (16 July 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 (16 July 2022)"

"I decided that if I was a monster in the eyes of the holistic community, I would embrace the concept. If I was already a Little Monster for loving Gaga, I could be a monstrous Witch too." Continue reading Column: The Story of a Witch Scorned at The Wild Hunt.

Decidí que si a ojos de la comunidad holística yo era un monstruo, bien abrazaría el concepto. Si ya era un Little Monster por amar a Gaga, podría ser un brujo monstruoso también. Continue reading Columna: La Historia de un Brujo Despreciado at The Wild Hunt.

Summary session plan below. Also, at the end of this post, a bunch of links and info requested by participants. My iNaturalist observations for today and yesterday. It was the last day of Ecological Spirituality class. Some participants had to leave early, some participants had to finish packing up, so there were only five of … Continue reading "Ecological spirituality, day six"

UUSC partners call for deeper solidarity and a broader conversation about forced displacement on World Refugee Day.

This is not the time warp we want to do again. Or ever. The conservative-majority SCOTUS wants to take us on a detour back in time when folks who aren’t straight white cis men didn’t have rights. A time when we thought of the planet as nothing more than an ashtray. A time when . . . you get the idea. Overturning Roe v Wade was the lowest of blows. Gutting the Clean Air Act stripped power from the EPA to curb greenhouse gas emissions. What’s next?

Sunday, July 17 Rest, Recreation, Rejuvenation As UCMH takes a break from its summer programming, we encourage our members and friends to celebrate this Summer Sunday in whatever way is most meaningful to them, be it spiritual or secular.  Our friends at Unitarian Universalist Congregational Society of Westborough have prepared a list of neighboring congregations offering   [ … ] The post Sunday, July 17 ~ The 3 R’s of Summer appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

                                        Newly announced U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón. It has become a tiresome cliché here at Heretic , Rebel, a Thing to Flout for the proprietor to complain about being passed over each time a new Poet Laureate of the United States—Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress for all you sticklers for formality. Of course, although my single, slim, and widely unread volume of work is officially in the Library’s collection, I am sure no one there is actually aware of its existence.   My footprint on the Web is ephemeral.   I only occasionally read at very local venues far from academic or urban centers.   At best only a few hundred have ever read or heard ...

“Acting with compassion is not doing good because we think we ought to. It is being drawn to action by heartfelt passion. It is giving ourselves into what we are doing, being present in the moment—no matter how difficult, sad, or even boring it feels, no matter how much it demands. It is acting from … Continue reading Living in the Present

      As it happens, today, the 15th of July is, at least by some calendars, the beginning of Obon, also called Bon, in Japan. It derives from a Chinese Buddhist/Taoist Zhongyuan festival, often translated at the Ghost festival. In China the date for it is the 15th (in some places apparently the 14th and […]

Jeff Milchen The case of Jayland Walker reminds us that, despite modest reforms at some departments, killings by police remain pervasive.

The threshold is upon us. The end of our time with Helene Atwan as our director is coming up. We’re all wishing her the happiest retirement! It has been an amazing twenty-six years, and Beacon won’t be the same without her. So many amazing authors she brought into the fold! So many amazing books—including her love of poetry—she brought to the catalog! Several of our authors gathered here to congratulate her and to thank her. Along the way, we’ll take a trip down memory lane with photos.

      “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring […]

Coming soon. Temporarily up here — the Ecojustice Camp Songbook ECOJUSTICE CAMP SONGBOOK We believe humans can have a positive impact on each other, and on the natural world. I am only one,But still I am one.I cannot do everything,But still I can do something,And because I cannot do everything,I will not refuse to do … Continue reading "Ecological spirituality, day five"

Summary session plan below the fold. My iNaturalist observations for today. Field trip: walk from Ferry Beach Park Association to Camp Ellis. (More coming soon — I hope)

“To return to our true home, to see into our own nature, is the aim of practice. We see into our own nature by bringing light to each act of our existence, living in a way that mindfulness is present all of the time. When walking past the cypress tree in the courtyard, we really … Continue reading Mindfulness

“It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge … Continue reading Common Humanity

Many popular images of the storming of the Bastille are highly romanticized like this English school text illustration.  In reality there was relatively little fighting and only seven inmates were freed including common criminals. It’s  Bastille  Day , of course, commemorating the day in 233 years ago in 1789 when the Paris Mob set off the French Revolution by storming the Bastille, a fortress prison traditionally used by the monarchy to detain its political enemies without benefit of civil appeal.  The French make a big deal of it.  In the United States it is marked by an exceptionally busy evening in French restaurants.  In recent years the long-time loathing of all things French by the right wing stre...

A lost and critical mountain pass in Norway shed light on ancient migration and glacial archeology. Continue reading Melting Ice reveals lost Medieval Norse Mountain Pass at The Wild Hunt.

It was 2007 when I could keep it in no longer.   I’d avoided the issue long enough.  I’d downplayed my feelings, guarded my intuition.  I’d kept a lot of my favorite things and even my friendships, on the down low.  … Continue reading →

Jeff Milchen Saving reproductive choice demands and preserving previous civil rights advances it’s essential to recognize the need for structural change.

By Solomon Jones | The first time I heard Geneva Reed-Veal speak of her late daughter, she did so with the passion of a preacher. Her voice rose and fell with righteous indignation and when she paused, I was anxious to hear more. Sandra Bland’s mother is a force to be reckoned with, and when I interviewed her for my radio program in 2016, she told me that her daughter was too. Sandra had shown as much while asserting her rights during her traffic stop arrest, and even through the pain of recalling what it was like to see that, Geneva made room for pride.

Last month, many of us were horrified and grieved to learn about the tragic loss of 53 lives lost in San Antonio, Texas as migrants were trapped in the back of a truck. These were parents, children, siblings, human beings who were desperate for an opportunity to find and create a better life for themselves and their loved ones. As the Somali poet Warsan Shire reminds us in her poem “Home,” “no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck feeding on newspaper unless the miles traveled means something more than journey.” As leaders on both sides of the aisle continue to use fear and scarcity to shape critical asylum policies, as people of faith, we know another way is not only possible but essential. Because we know that th...

The Seal of the Confederation of the Rhine tellingly inscribed in French. Following his stunning defeat of the two great eastern powers—Russiaand the Holy Roman Empire—at the Battle of Austerlitz in December of 1805 the ever confident Napoleon, self-crowned Emperor of Francewas even cockier than usual.   He was in a mood to redraw the map of Europe and shake upthe old order. He was determined to peel away as many of the German speaking principalities as possible from the Hapsburg-ruled old lands, which as the old joke went were neither Holy nor Roman or much of an empire.   After months of cajoling, bribes, and threats he convinced 16 German states to abandon the Empire and form the Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbund,) a lose ne...

According to the current Supreme Court, we must understand the intentions of long-dead men from a long-gone era in order to interpret the Constitution. We can read their writings, but why bother with written records when we can hear from them directly?

          As I understand it the date we normally assign to mark the birth of Julius Caesar is today, the 13th of July, one hundred years before our common era. A number of ways to go with this tidbit. But, I find myself thinking a little about how we and he […]

“Never forget, a teacher of mine once said, that every Sunday morning when you rise to preach, someone in that congregation has just suffered the broken heart that they will spend a lifetime trying to mend. Never forget that someone in that congregation has just found a way through some great desolation. Never forget that … Continue reading Presence

Summary of today’s activities below. My iNaturalist observations for the day coming soon. We started off the day playing a game with children in grades 1-6 who are at RE Week…. Lynxes, Hares, Leaves [Adapted from The Ecojustice Outdoors Book by Dan Harper] The Referee divides the players into Lynxes, Hares, and Leaves. If you … Continue reading "Ecological spirituality workshop, day three"

Christians call to stop a Texas Pagan market festival. Continue reading Pagan Market threatened with backlash: “our daddy can whip their daddy,” local pastor prays at The Wild Hunt.

Taken with a Fujifilm X100F Just click on the photo to enlarge it In August 2020, during the pandemic when, thank heavens, there had been a slight easing of restrictions, I went with a friend to visit the part of the Essex coastline where I grew up. I took a number of photos on that very hot day which are all very representative of the local coastline. Should you wish to see them just click on this link. But one of them struck, and still strikes me as being very differently thanks to a wholly contingent musical juxtaposition.  In the first few months of the pandemic I had stumbled across a piece of music by the Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas (1904–1949) who was a member of Arnold Schoenberg’s Masterclass in Composition at the Acade...

      Teitaro Suzuki died on this day, the 12th of July, in 1966. In Western traditions one often marks the date of a remarkable person’s death as a festival. For the Christian tradition, it’s a new birth into the heavenly realms. I rather like that. Although I think of it more as a […]