A few years ago I experienced the abrupt end of two unrelated long term friendships.  I felt such acute pain and loss. It was difficult to work through that pain when other folks in my life thought I was overreacting because it was not romantic love. I wish for us to be comfortable recognizing the … Continue reading Losing a Friend

        Today is Cinco de Mayo. I usually offer a reflection on this day about why I think it is in fact a holiday we in the United States should be observing. With, I quickly add, some serious caveats. I acknowledge a pretty good measure of discomfort at how the holiday has […]

Another request. I’m looking for lovely samples of orders of service. Necessarily available in a downloadable format online, and preferably from a small church (of whatever stripe) or one that works with a tight budget. Feel free to chime in, even years from now. There’s something dispiriting to visit a church and find something that … Continue reading "Lovely examples of order of service?"

UU Women’s Retreat on May 7th! Registration is now OPEN! Young Women Welcome! 13 years and up! When: Saturday, May 7th – 9am-3pm Where: UU Church of Los Alamos Registration Fee to pay for lunch and supplies: $20. (If you are in need of a scholarship, please let Tina DeYoe know!) Registration link: https://forms.gle/mQrUHS3EatqcC5tDA Retreat …<p> UU Women’s Retreat on May 7th! Read More »

The nation's wetlands while providing a large range of benefits and resources continue to be threatened by development, pollution, and the erosion of environmental protections. Continue reading American Wetlands Month is underway at The Wild Hunt.

Truthfully, I didn’t learn much from being locked down for two years.  I suspect that I had the virus early on, before it was even on people’s radar back in January of 2020.  After flying through Las Vegas and the Guadalajara airports, we were in Chapala, Mexico, enjoying the warmth and a bit of street food. The symptoms appeared one night in the form of spiking fevers, violent chills and joints aching so terribly that I simply wept with no relief.  I was sick for two days and then it was over.  What did I learn from that?   Not everything bad that happens occurs for a reason or to teach us a lesson.  I know some people think otherwise.  But I am of the opinion that random stuff messes with us mercilessly, and the evolving mu...

Yes! The robin has been sitting on the nest more consistently and today I confirmed that she has laid three eggs! She stays in place when we go out the back door, as long as we go down the steps near the driveway, which is on the opposite side of where she is nesting. But […]

On my way home from a ministers’ retreat this afternoon, I stopped at Ano Nuevo State Park. The reason most people visit the park is to view the Elephant Seals that live there. And what’s not to like about these charismatic megafauna? Today’s visit was too short. I’ve already convinced Carol to accompany back to … Continue reading "The obligatory Ano Nuevo State Park Elephant Seal photo"

Focus talk: Susan Nulsen. Click here to listen. Susan Nulsen’s Bio Both of Susan Nulsen's parents were born in the Depression and had been brought up in country Western Australia. Her mother's parents were farmers. Her father's father had drowned when her father was a baby and her father's mother had become a hairdresser in a country town (where she had little competition) to support them both. Neither of Susan's parents families had been particularly well-off. Although the Depression hadn't hit the farmers too badly, subsequent droughts had had more of an effect . Her mother's family had been forced to move to the city where her grandfather had worked as a dustman for some time. Susan's parents were both twenty-two when she was born. ...

First published on 6th June 2021 but republished on May 6th 2022 because, a) it is still relevant and, b) it stands as a good holding post while I take two weeks of leave. I return to work/blogging/podcasting on Wednesday 18th May. Thanks to everyone who reads this blog and, from time to time, corresponds with me or turns up on a Sunday morning. I hugely appreciate the engagement. Thank you.  Right, I ’m off to have a rest . . . Adieu. —o0o— Back in 1983/84 in Bury St Edmunds, I bought a secondhand copy of the “Selected poems and prose of Michael Roberts” (ed. Frederick Grubb, Carcanet Press,1980). Michael Roberts (1902–1948) was an English poet, writer, critic and broadcaster who made his living as a teacher. He is most we...

I was just on retreat at Villa Maria del Mar for two days. It is in Santa Cruz, on a cliff right on the beach. When I texted my daughter to say that I had gone tidepooling that morning before breakfast, she asked if I had drawn any critters from the tidepools for her. I […]

Two people I know affectionately refer to each other as their “movie spouse.” Each of them has a partner who does not share their taste in movies–so they go to the movies together. -Michael Tino (CLF) Do something fun with a friend today.

Prayer for Possibility, Change, and Transformation May 8, 2022 Lover of Possibilities, Change, and Transformation blow through our lives more gently, please. Or at least give us a reminder to have a go bag and a charged phone and the contacts of this four-times-removed-friend’s-seventeenth-cousin. Lover of Possibilities, Change, and Transformation...

    I missed it as it passed, but, yesterday, the 5th of May was a signal moment in the history of liberal religion in the United States. And, I want to take a moment to pause and reflect on it. To this moment I have a vivid memory. I was working at Wahrenbrock’s Book […]

Beloved,  Are you tired? I am. Are you mad as hell? Me too. Are you figuring out how to get out of bed, go to work, and carry on while day after day you are stunned by the cruelty of our leaders and our laws? If I am honest, I too have chosen a nap instead of a meeting. I have reached out to connect with friends, instead of taking every action that falls into my inbox.  And that’s ok. We are a movement, not a machine. Caring for ourselves, our communities, and our spirits are essential to sustaining our movements.  Our work is as complex as our movements. But there is nothing complicated about injustice. We are clear that Christian nationalism, white supremacy, and extractive capitalism are the forces that threaten our democracy, ou...

Please join us as we join our friends at UUCSW, 64 Main Street in Westborough, where we’ll explore together the ways in which Nurturing Laughter can help us to not only survive but thrive in an uncertain and sometimes less-than-lovely world. Online option is also available; please visit www.uucsw.org for more information. Next week: Join us   [ … ] The post Sunday, May 8 ~ Visiting Westborough appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

Bring out your flower bouquets and your brunch reservations! This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and we’re bringing the books to take you into the weekend and beyond. These books show how every kind of mother needs to be valued and supported in the catch-all societal stew we call the US. Mothers of color. Immigrant mothers. Mothers who become parents at a young age. Mothers separated from their families because of incarceration. Mothers challenging the medical establishment about misconceived notions of disability.

Lyonel Perabo reviews the new film "The Northman," directed by Robert Eggers, which features striking historical fidelity in its story of Viking Age revenge. Continue reading Review: “The Northman” – What evil steals the hearts of brave young men? at The Wild Hunt.

Please join us on Saturday (7 May 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 (7 May 2022)"

The highlight of a trip to Ano Nuevo State Park is supposed to be the sight of hundreds of Elephant Seals. But when Carol and I visited the park today, what I enjoyed most was seeing Bank Swallows building nests in a bluff high above the beach. I watched through binoculars as the swallows whizzed … Continue reading "Bank Swallows"

The birth of Siddhartha Gautama, known to most as the Buddha, is celebrated at this time of year throughout East and South Asia, but the exact date of the celebration varies from country to country. The Southeast Asian festival of Vesak, which includes this day, starts tomorrow. One of the central rituals of Vesak is … Continue reading Buddha’s Birthday

This review came out yesterday. https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2022/05/your-brains-are-in-your-hands-doug-stowe-on-forming-mind-hand-and-culture/ It is written by fellow woodworker Josh Pauling. Make, fix and create...

When: Saturday May 7, 2022 Time: 9 AM to Noon Where: Unitarian Church of Los Alamos Patio, 1738 N. Sage St. MASK OPTIONAL Please bring plants you wish to give away, and take home any you can use. All unclaimed plants after the swap will be donated to the Master Gardeners’ Plant Sale on June …<p> 2022 Community Plant Swap Read More »

Now that Roe v. Wade is likely to fall, we all have to think carefully about electronic privacy and abortion. Big Tech is already tracking everything you do. The data they steal from you can easily be used to find out whether you (for biological females) or your partner (for biological males) is pregnant. The … Continue reading "Phone privacy and abortions"

Despite the commercialization of Mother's Day, some of the best tributes however are a sincere understanding of what mothers sacrifice for their children. Mothers often changed the course of history just through their choices although history might not acknowledge it until years later. Continue reading Column: Mamie Till-Mobley’s Choice at The Wild Hunt.

Please join us next Tuesday (10 May 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.

On this Sunday (8 May 2022), children and youth religious education classes will continue to meet in person during our 11:00 AM worship service. We have resumed our pre-COVID practice where the children and youth will join us in the sanctuary for the first 15-20 minutes and then we will sing them out to their … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education (8 May 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (8 May 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. This Sunday we continue our work through the book Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. As the author says, “This is not a book you read, this is a book you do” and we … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 8 May 2022"

Please join us on Sunday (8 May 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Bearers and Forebearers” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106 if you are able to do so. Our service … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (8 May 2022)"

The worship Service this week at the Tree of Life UU Congregation in McHenry. I was asked to do the Chalice Lighting this Sunday morning at the Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry, Illinois.  If you are not familiar with a Chalice Lighting, it is one of the few U.U. worship rituals.  A short reading usually accompanies ignitinga flame in a chalice, the symbol of our faith, which help set the tone of the service.  At our congregation we have monthly themes for worship.  This month that theme is Beauty.  Instead of searching out an apt quotation from literature or by some minister, I undertook a short original poem. Rev. Jenn Gracen with her wife Virginia and daughter Adalee at a protest of the upcoming Supreme...

If fortune favors me, I am about midway along the journey of my ministry, and this awareness, plus a growing preoccupation with my own mortality and the dangers facing our planet, has caused me to reflect on what I want to do and be during the second half of my career. I’ve found the answer […]

Note — This is becoming my default Mothers’ Day post instead of a pedantic recitation of the history of the celebration.  A version first appeared in August 2015. My wife, Kathy was noodling around on   Ancestry.com and discovered that my birth mother, Margaret High, died in June 2014 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She was 91 years old. I never had any contact with her and only discoveredher identity through the diligentresearch by my late brother’s ex-wife Arlene Brennan a few years ago. Ruby Murfin holds Timothy and W. M. Murfin holds me at our baptism in Dillon, Montana, December 1949. Margaret High came from a pioneering Montana ranching family in aptly named Twin Bridges in the remote high country of the Missouri Brakes.  She served...

I have no need to convert people who think abortion is a terrible sin. They’re free to believe what they want and to order their lives around those beliefs. I just want to live my life, let others live theirs, and be free to go to brunch. And I can’t.

The love we may have felt for and from family members is storge. It is a nurturing, caring, protective love. We are all worthy of nurturing, and all capable of giving this to others. Share a memory of being nurtured.

A PDF of the whole text which follows can be downloaded at this link  I A BEGINNING   A recorded version of Part 1 is available at this link The theme of the conference for which this piece was originally written in 2016 was, “Religion—Where Next?” It seems to be an important question to ask because, at least in Europe and North America, the state of our formal religious traditions appears ever more parlous and, at least in denominational terms, perhaps terminal. But was this, in fact, precisely the right question to pose? I asked this because over the twenty-two years of my ministry with a small liberal religious community in Cambridge it has struck me more and more that a better question to ask might be “Religion—Where ...

      For those of us familiar with Julia Ward Howe’s original vision of Mother’s Day as a celebration of peace, how do we honor that original intent? How do we look for peace, and, hopefully find peace? And, maybe, wouldn’t it be wonderful, spread the heart of peace out into the world? And, […]

This week I did a particularly challenging hike on Mount Tam that I really wanted to do. It was one I hiked when I was in my 20’s and I remember it being very beautiful and also living up to its name: Steep Ravine. Part of the trail, which follows a creek through the redwoods […]

Rev. John reopens the Question Box for all your queries, curiosities, and posers.

New research suggests that the stereotype of medieval kings feasting ostentatiously on meat and alcohol while peasants starved may be overblown. Continue reading New research challenges belief about medieval feasts at The Wild Hunt.

I’m sharing this Braver Angels Podcast about abortion featuring an all-women panel — two Reds and two Blues. The episode is helping lots of people navigate this painfully divisive issue with family, friends, and community members. The post Can We Talk About Abortion? appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Men arrested at Mrs. Clap's Molly House and others hung in a public execution at Tyburn in 1726. On May 9, 1726 five unfortunate patsies were strung up and publicly hanged on the notorious gallows at Tyburn, the rural execution spot not far outside the walls of London.   Or it may have been just three.   Accounts differ.   Confusion may have arisen because the busy gibbet often accommodated several hangings at once and there may have been other common criminals dangled with them.   A woodblock print purporting shows the execution shows seven victims. At the time hanging was a popular public amusement regularly drawing large crowds of witnesses.   The list of capital crimes was long and included not just murder and highway robbery bu...

Growing up my mother insisted that the secret ingredient in her cooking was Love. I wholeheartedly believed in this, in a literal sense, like my mom had the power to jar Love and keep it in the spice rack. -Marin Smith (CLF) When was a time someone fed you with love?

  Gifts from our Mothers and our Other-Mothers By Rev. Kit Ketcham, May 8, 2022 Interesting, isn’t it, the juxtaposition of the Supreme Court’s draft on abortion rights and a day honoring the role of Mothers, mothers who may not have had access to birth control or control of their own bodies.  I’m not going to address that issue now but it will doubtless be open season during coffee hour!   It’s taken me a long time since my mother’s death in 1994 to understand better my relationship with her, a relationship that often made me feel guilty that I wasn’t more patient with her, that I didn’t come to visit her more often, that I couldn’t be with her as she was dying.   And yet it was also a relationship of great joy, time...

Each of us should have the power to decide what does and doesn’t happen to our bodies at every moment of our lives because consent and bodily autonomy are holy. And when disparities in resources or freedoms make it more difficult for certain groups of people to exercise autonomy over their own bodies, our faith compels us to take liberatory action.” The post UUWF: Statement on the Potential Overturning of Roe v. Wade appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Janice Marie Johnson , James Ishmael Ford , Abhi Prakash Janamanchi , Amanda Poppei Nuanced, surprising, and beautiful, Unitarian Universalism joins together myriad sources and experiences.

           I attended an Open House at the Kendall Mosque last week and broke the Ramadan fast after evening prayer with the members of that faith community.   As I watched the prayers, I thought of how we, Unitarian Universalists, draw wisdom and spirituality from sources as diverse as science, poetry, scripture, and personal experience.   And the world’s religious and spiritual traditions offer much to us as we search for truth and meaning.   The stories/myths they offer, are rich for those seeking meaning and purpose from their own life experiences and for those seeking discernment about how to live an ethical and/or spiritual life.   In some ways Unitarian Universalists are fortunate to draw from so many diverse tradit...

People I respect have called me out, and I am sitting with a big, steaming pile of unwanted self-knowledge. I feel deeply disappointed in myself (oh no, I hurt people!), afraid (oh no, people won’t like me!), discouraged (didn’t I do this work already?), angry at myself (why did it take such pointed, public criticism […]

Despite pledges to end it, the Title 42 policy is still sending people to harm and must be stopped.

Why do I think a bird is more beautiful than a worm might seem like a silly question on the surface; of course, birds with their multiple colors and plumage, flying effortlessly across the sky seem infinitely more beautiful than a slimy brown worm mucking around in the dirt.   As I started thinking about Nurturing Beauty, this month’s worship theme, I started really wondering how and possibly why we think some things are beautiful and others are not?   Is it purely cultural?   Is it only about external characteristics?   And I wonder what is the impact of what we each chose to define as “beautiful” on our psyches, our social lives, and our spiritual/ethical journeys. Let me share a few images with you.   These are random image...

Story Author: Paulo Coelho A young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. But an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly but full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in … but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. The young man looked at the old man’s heart and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine

So, after sorting and winnowing all winter, I have finally finished with the boxes from my years living in Boston. I managed to go from 11 file-drawer-size boxes down to 4! The four that remain include, loosely: 1. lesbian theology and creative writing, 2. GLBT & social justice activism, 3. Native solidarity activism, and 4. […]

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, LA legislation follows Roe v. Wade decision leak, a new Croatian stamp feature Slavic Pagan imagery, Remembering Dr. Randy P. Conner, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of May 9, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

The common name of Salix sitchensis made me wonder whether there are really willows as far north as Alaska. Yes, they are. The native territory of S. sitchensis runs along the coast from central California to Kodiak Island, AK. When I’m tired already when I sit down to drawing, I have been trying to take […]

Our religious, spiritual, and magical traditions are a great foundation. But sometimes “what we’ve always done” not only doesn’t work, it makes things worse. And so we have to make it up as we go along.

Union Pacific and Central Pacific tracks meet at Promontory Point, Utah. On May 10, 1869 the United States was bound together as never before when the final Golden Spike was driven at Promontory Point in Utah connecting the Union Pacific Railroad (U.P) from the Eastwith the Central Pacific (C.P.) from California. Together the two railroads formed the first Transcontinental rail connection.  Construction was spurred by the Civil War and the Union’s need to connect to California and its gold wealth to help finance the war.  The construction was authorized and encouraged by the Railroad Acts of 1862 and 1864 which provided financing for the enormously expensive undertaking through 30 year bonds and extensive land grants to the railroad ...

When my firstborn was very young, my father commented on how often I told her I loved her. He said, what if adults heard how they were loved as often as you tell your little one she is loved. I’ve taken that to heart. I tell the people in my life all the time that … Continue reading I Love You

Last month our congregation generously donated over $7,500 for relief for Ukrainian refugees, from a Special Sunday collection for Ukrainian Emergency Response and a Women’s Alliance grant to the International Convocation of UU Women. We have received two heartwarming responses. This short video from Rev Kinga Szekely from ... read more . The post Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Now that we have a new Music Director, we’re going to squeeze in one more opportunity to sing with the choir before the year ends! Starting on Tuesday, May 17, 7-8:15pm, we’ll have distanced, in-person, masked choir rehearsals in the Dining Room and starting on ... read more . The post Sing with the Choir! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Though we often think of the masters, what is actually true is that everyone is creative. Any one of us can create (or destroy) using our imagination, our resources, our will, and our connections. What we do with our creative impulses can inspire, transform, offer ... read more . The post May Theme: Creativity appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Director of Lifespan Religious Education Robin Ahearn will be on vacation 4/29-5/11. If you have any urgent RE concerns in her absence, please contact Congregational Life Coordinator Kristin Cleveland at clc@uuschenectady.org. Robin will resume checking emails 5/12. UPCOMING RE CLASSES: K-6 Experiences with the Web ... read more . The post RE This Week – May 10th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

What will you do to make the world more beautiful? That was what we asked folks during worship on Sunday, inspired by the story, “Miss Rumphius” by Barbara Cooney, and by the poem, “The Pact” by the Rev. Bob Janis-Dillon. Creativity and beauty can be ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – May 10th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The battle to end Title 42 is being waged in Congress and the courts.

The first installment of a series covering the Conference on Ecological Spiritualities hosted by Harvard Divinity School last month. Continue reading Conference on Ecological Spiritualities, Part 1 at The Wild Hunt.

I was musing with friends about the size and fate of congregations and so looked up some data in an old UUA directory. The old print versions have been digitized and are online, if you ever need to look them up yourself. https://listview.lib.harvard.edu/lists/drs-431987185

    Hard to recall the date precisely. I was somewhere on the cusp of adolescence, maybe thirteen, possibly as old as fourteen. A friend and I were rummaging through some boxes of magazines and books looking for old copies of my father’s stash of Playboys. Instead found a cache of Ace paperback editions of […]

Irving Berlin--American master song smith. There was a lot of buzz recently over Rolling Stones list of the “100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.”   There is always room for entertaining debate about such lists.   But this one doesn’t come close to living up to the claim of representing “All Time.”   The earliest on the list were Woody Guthrie and Fats Domino.   Most were active from the 1970’s—the magazine’s birth decade—and were limited to rock, pop, R&B, and a smidgen of rap.   Not a single mention of any of the composers and lyricists from the Great American Song Book who were active from about 1900 to the ‘60s.   That’s a lot of enormous talent to overlook.   And the most egregious omission was this guy...

Leslie Ahuvah Fails Motherhood must be a choice. It cannot be chosen for us. Continue reading "The Sacred Choice"

Molly Peacock The best thing about a hand-made pattern is the flaw.

Silly, playful, giggly love is ludus. It involves shared activities and mutual joy. What is something that makes you laugh?

By María de los Angeles Torres | After a contentious campaign that ignited strong debate specially among Pedro Pans—Cuban children who came to the US unaccompanied in the early sixties—Governor DeSantis of Florida is poised to sign a new law effectively banning shelter for recent unaccompanied immigrant minors in the state fleeing violence in their homeland.

TWH speaks with Karen Crowley-Susani and Dominique Susani of Energetic Geometry, land healers who work restoring nature through energy work and sustainable practices. Continue reading Sacred geometry, harmonizing and healing the energies of the planet at The Wild Hunt.

I’ve spent a lot of time on today’s leaf, and want to continue tomorrow before considering it done. So I’ll update then with the actual drawing.

Due to serious technical issues Heretic, Rebel a Thing to Flout will be on temporary hiatus for—I hope—a short time.  I was locked out of Facebook, the primary means I have for promoting the blog and connecting with readers through post links on my Timeline and in several interest groups.  Not only am I locked out, but Facebook security has completely removed my account including removing every post I have made in the last 16 years, my nearly 1,500 friends list, access to pages and groups to which I administer, and hundreds of photos. In case I cannot get my original account restored, I have created a new account.  Please accept new friend requests from me and send me a friend request if you don’t get one.  Also if you are a me...

Sunday, May 15, 10:30 a.m. Circle Round ~ A Multigenerational Service led by the Children and Youth of the Circle RE Congregations Come learn about – and experience! – the adventures we’ve had in Circle RE this year! Our kids and youth are excited to share their skills and accomplishments as we celebrate our first year   [ … ] The post Sunday, May 15 ~ Circle Round ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

 I got two magazines in the mail today and each featured a review of one of my books. Here they are: Make, fix and create... Thereby reshaping the world in which we live.

Back in 2003 and as students at the Clear Spring School were studying our indigenous peoples, I had observed Arkansas' nearly famous novelist Don Harington's illustration of Fanshaw's Dwelling in his classic book, The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks.  Don and I had become friends at that point so I asked him if any high school students in the world had built a replica of Fanshaw's dwelling. Learning that none had, we offered be the first.  As our current group of older students is currently working on a wilderness survival structure, I'll share photos from an earlier time at the Clear Spring School over the next few days. Fanshaw's dwelling was an unusual one, in that it had two chambers side by side, each with its own entry. Othe...

Sometimes love feels like a playful puppy, with boundless energy and undivided attention. That puppy requires a lot of care and instruction on how to grow up well. How do you care for those you love?

Focus talk: Paula Chandoha. Click here to listen. (28 minutes)

One who is delighted by blossoming fragrances and the music of bees, bend your heart in the direction of all in need of comfort, of care, of sweetness and refuge. May our courageous songs be carried on the breeze through the treetops and along the clouds, to reach everyone who...

These are additional photos of the making of Fanshaw's dwelling in 2003. The students loved working together outdoors and the framework of the double dwelling came together quickly with bent saplings lashed together with twine. Gathering the material to form the roof took longer.  Unlike modern homes, Fanshaw's dwelling decomposed into the earth leaving no trace but these photos and the experiences remembered from making it. Make, fix and create...

Please join us on Saturday (14 May 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 (14 May 2022)"

      As it happens, today, the 13th of May, in 1373, Julian of Norwich starting having a series of visions. It would become the basis of her extended meditation, Revelations of Divine Love. I find myself thinking of Love. I find myself thinking of Universalism. At Wikipedia we find: “Universalism is a religion […]

I’ve just uploaded PDFs of 5 more copyright-free hymns to this Google Drive folder: “Come By Here” (a.k.a. “Kumbayah”), “Many Thousand Gone,” “Nobody Know the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Siyahamba,” and “Transience.” All these hymns have appeared in UU hymnals. Why copyright-free hymns? Because you don’t need a license, which smaller congregations may not be able … Continue reading "Five more copyright free hymns"

It is important that playful actions like teasing and tickling have firm, mutual, consensual, and respected boundaries. Each of us deserves to fully, freely, and joyfully consent to how we are treated and how our bodies are touched. And that consent can be fully and freely revoked at any time. How do you tell people … Continue reading Boundaries

Still kicking two years in, COVID brought out the worst from the nation’s populace: racist brutality against marginalized communities. This year’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month commemorates the victims of the 2021 spa shootings as well as all other Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders lost to anti-Asian violence during the pandemic and throughout history. This violence is a form of erasure. As historian Catherine Ceniza Choy writes in her forthcoming addition to Beacon Press’s ReVisioning History series, “This positioning of Asians in opposition to American identity and experience is perhaps most powerfully expressed through the erasure of their long-standing presence in the United States and their contribut...

Since 2010, UU Schenectady has offered a range of 6 different Wellspring classes. Sources is the foundational class for all other advanced classes. Participants in Sources are supported by a curriculum designed to strengthen your understanding of Unitarian Universalism. Through class assignments and interactions, ... read more . The post UUSS Wellspring Sources, 2022-2023 appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Since  2010, UU Schenectady has offered a range of 6 different Wellspring classes. This year’s advanced offering is Deep Questions Participants examine the 7 Unitarian Universalist principles and the 8th proposed principle through the lens of their own experience and beliefs to see ... read more . The post UUSS Wellspring Deep Questions, 2022-2023 appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

TWH welcomes Bart Everson back to discuss Gaianism in our Spotlight on Traditions feature. Continue reading Spotlight: Personal Definitions in Gaianism at The Wild Hunt.

I was reading a work of biblical interpretation from 2002 which referred to the house churches of the early Christian era. Memories of then-chic church planting came back, almost accusingly. Were new house churches such a good idea then? Did they endure? Did it lead to sustained growth, either numerical or spiritual? I realized that … Continue reading "New in church formation?"